Mount Makiling Forest Reserve Research Articles

Network approach on characterizing floral diversity in the agroforestry zone of Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines

Complex networks have been used to characterize real world systems. The network structure may signify important relationships which may not be evident in other methods of analysis. In this study, we characterize the floral diversity in three study sites in the agroforestry zone of Mount Makiling Forest Reserve using network analysis. Plant species found in each study site are considered as nodes (N). Edges (E) are established to connect species with the same alternate role and habit. The dataset includes N = 157 and E = 4279 for Bagong Silang site, N = 145 and E = 3740 for the Karay site, and N = 122 and E = 2429 for the Magnetic Hill site. Network parameters such as degree, path length, clustering coefficient, modularity and number of connected components were calculated. Obtained values were compared to published diversity index. Results show that lower clustering coefficient and higher average path length signify higher diversity. A higher number of disconnected components also indicates diversity.

Isolation and identification of bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria from plants in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines

Sixty-three lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from trapped or stagnated water in parts of 14 different plant species in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines and were screened for bacteriocin production. Thirteen of these isolates were found antagonistic to different indicator bacterial strains through direct assay. However, after screening of the pH neutralized culture supernatant using ‘spot-on-lawn’ method against Enterococcus faecium 79 as the indicator strain, only one isolate, designated as ML 258, was confirmed to be bacteriocin-producer. Its crude extract of bacteriocin exhibited inhibitory activity against E. faecium and Lactobacillus aciclophilus. The isolate was characterized and found to be gram-positive short rods that occurred in pairs, singly or in chains, catalase negative, microaerophilic, non-motile, non-spore forming and exhibited a heterofermentative type of fermentation. This isolate was obtained from fern (Microsorum longissimus) and was identified as Carnobacterium piscicola using API 50 CHL kit with good identification of 98%. However, the 16S rRNA gene sequencing and homology search from NCBI database using the BLAST program showed that the isolate is 93-95% similar with Carnobacterium maltaromaticum. On the other hand, phylogenetic analysis using MEGA 5 software that constructed a neighbor joining tree thru bootstrap method revealed that this isolate showed more similarity with Enterococcus sp.

Identification of potential artificial groundwater recharge sites in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines using GIS and Analytical Hierarchy Process

Groundwater plays a critical role to the total water resource potential of the Philippines especially in areas where there is low rainfall and where surface water is not readily available for agriculture and domestic use. However, during the past decades, groundwater depletion and pollution have been evident in many parts of the Philippines. This has led to excessive groundwater extraction that resulted to the lowering of the groundwater at an alarming level. This problem was further aggravated by rapid urbanization in most parts of the country that drastically affected the natural recharge of the land. Hence, this study is aimed to identify potential sites for artificial groundwater recharge in selected watersheds of Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) that can enhance sustainable yield and promote conservation and storage of excess water. It utilized several factors in identifying the artificial groundwater recharge sites. These include infiltration and percolation qualities (slope, soil, geology, geomorphology, land cover, aquifer transmissivity, drainage density, and lineaments), water quality (electrical conductivity), and water storability (depth to groundwater). Each factor was reclassified based on their potential for artificial groundwater recharge and was ranked based on their influence on groundwater movement using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The suitability scales used in the reclassification were very poor, poor, moderate, good, and very good. Seven specialists from various fields of study including engineering, hydrology, geology, and forestry contributed their knowledge on groundwater recharge through pair-wise comparison. The results of the AHP showed that aquifer transmissivity is the most important factor and is given a weight of 15.9%. On the other hand, soil is given the least importance with a weight of 7.5%. These results were used to process the final potential map which integrated all the thematic maps using weighted overlay. The results of the potential map showed that majority (83.97%) of the site is moderately suitable for artificial groundwater recharge. The good, moderate, and poor suitable sites have 2180.03 ha, 12,274.39 ha, and 162.81 ha, respectively. Among the four watersheds in MMFR, Sipit Watershed has the largest cover of good suitable sites at 1288.68 ha or 59.11% of the entire study site. Meanwhile, the Tigbi Watershed has the least coverage of good sites with an approximate area of 54.46 ha only. In general, majority of these suitable sites for artificial groundwater recharge were found in sites that have high infiltration capacity and very acceptable water quality. It was also observed that the identified suitable sites were mainly located in cropland areas.

Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and Urban Sprawl Analysis in the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve Watersheds and Buffer Zone, Philippines

Ecologically Valuable Areas play an important role in providing ecosystem services, however, human activities such as land conversion and urban sprawl pose pressures and threats to these areas. The study assessed the land use/land cover and urban sprawl in the Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) Watersheds and Buffer Zone from 1992 to 2015 using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). Results showed that the land use/cover within the MMFR buffer zone has changed from 1992 to 2015 with built-up areas increasing by 117% despite Proclamation 1257, s. 1998 which regulates human activities in the zone. Based on the Shannon entropy analysis the land development in the MMFR buffer zone tends to be dispersed and sprawling. However, when the magnitude of change of urban sprawl in the buffer zone from 2002 to 2015 was calculated, a decrease in the entropy value was observed which implies a compacting pattern as the human settlement in the buffer zone increases over time. Proclamation 1257, s. 1998 needs to be strengthened to protect MMFR and its buffer zone from further encroachment and pressure. Moreover, remote sensing and GIS proved to be useful tools for assessing urban sprawl in ecologically valuable areas such as MMFR.

Distribution, Diversity and Spatial Analysis of Tree Species in a Long-Term Ecological Research Plot in Molawin-Dampalit Watershed, Mount Makiling Forest Reserve

A two-hectare long-term ecological plot (LTERP) was established to generate data for biodiversity resource assessment, monitoring and evaluation of Mo- lawin-Dampalit watershed for adaptive management. The plot was subdivided into fifty 20mx20 subplots where species identification, diameter at breast height (DBH) and total tree height measurements and geographic location of all trees were conducted. Growth parameters such as DBH and height were used to mon- itor and evaluate the area. The study recorded a total of 1,266 tree individuals comprising with 135 species distributed among 95 genera and 58 families. Of the 135 species recorded, 87 species are native or indigenous and 4 species are exotic or introduced in the area and 44 species are endemic to the Philippines giving an overall endemism profile of 32% for the whole study area. Three most dominant species include Diplodiscus paniculatus Turcz, Celtis luzonica Warb. and Pinanga insignis Becc based on Species Importance Value.  A total of 29 threatened species were recorded in the area. The study revealed dominance of threatened  species in the LTERP area. Out of 10 dominant species, 7 are threat- ened species and 3 of which are critically endangered species such as Parashorea malaanonan (Blanco) Merr and Diospyros blancoi A. DC. Tree diversity analysis showed a high species richness (135), evenness (0.71), Simpson diversity index (0.91) and Shannon Diversity Index (3.52) indicating a more diverse area, pre- served and intact MMFR.  Spatial analysis was correlated with the clustering of species using ordination method. Results showed species composition  is affected by spatial distribution and each subplot may have different site requirements and unique floral characteristics.  K e ywords : Biodiversity resource assessment, dominant species, critically endan- gered species, abundant and tree diversity

Comparison of stem taper models for the four tropical tree species in Mount Makiling, Philippines

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of six stem taper models on four tropical tree species, namely Celtis luzonica (Magabuyo), Diplodiscus paniculatus (Balobo), Parashorea malaanonan (Bagtikan), and Swietenia macrophylla(Mahogany)in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR), Philippines using fit statistics and lack-of-fit statistics. Four statistical criteria were used in this study, including the standard error of estimate (SEE), coefficient of determination (R2), mean bias (), and absolute mean difference (AMD). For the lack-of-fit statistics,SEE, and AMD were determined in different relative height classes. The results indicated that the Kozak02 stem taper model offered the best fit for the four tropical species in most statistics. The Kozak02 model also consistently provided the best performance in the lack-of-fit statistics with the best SEE, and AMD in most of the relative height classes. These stem taper equations could help forest managers and researchers better estimate the diameter of the outside bark with any given height, merchantable stem volumes and total stem volumes of standing trees belonging to the four species of the tropical forest in MMFR.

Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) from Mount Makiling, Luzon Island: new host and distribution records, with a checklist of species found in the Philippines

Our survey in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, Luzon Island, Philippines from April to May 2011 revealed new host records of bat fly species (Diptera: Nycteribiidae), including: Eucampsipoda philippinensis Ferris, Cyclopodia garrula Maa, C. horsfieldi de Mejeire, Phthiridium brachyacantha (Theodor) and Penicillidia acuminata Theodor. We also report C. garrula as a new record for Luzon Island. A checklist of the species known from the Philippines with the known distribution and bat host species was also provided.