"Abstract.—We conducted a survey of the amphibians and reptiles found in lowland dipterocarp fore... more "Abstract.—We conducted a survey of the amphibians and reptiles found in lowland dipterocarp forest of the Philippines.
We used line transect and visual encounter surveys to study eight sites located in dipterocarp, montane, and mossy forests.
We found 15 reptiles (one order and six families) and nine amphibians (one order and five families). Endemicity in lower
elevations reached 80% for reptiles and 77.8% for amphibians. Reptiles endemic to Mindanao Island constituted 13.3%
of the Reptilia we identified. The species found in lowland dipterocarp forest face threats from anthropogenic
disturbances such as habitat conversion, and may be good indicators of biotic integrity. We suggest that lowland forest
habitats are critical for endemic species because these areas have significantly higher species richness and diversity than
found in the tropical forests at higher elevations."
A positive relationship between avifaunal distribution and vegetation may be interrupted by habit... more A positive relationship between avifaunal distribution and vegetation may be interrupted by habitat disturbances as environmental stresses. Hence, general pattern of avifaunal distribution across elevational gradients was qualitatively characterized. Vegetation ranging from lowland, montane and mossy forest was explored for bird utilization. A combination of participatory line transect survey and mist-netting technique were used to sample bird species in eight sampling sites in Mt. Hamiguitan Range from July 2006 to March 2007. There were a cumulative of 53 species of birds assigned to 26 families and 11 orders. Twenty species (37.8%) of which are Philippine endemics and 10 species (18.9%) are confined in Mindanao. With the altitudinal isolation of vegetation, the number of species, abundance and endemism increase as elevation decreases. Hence, there is a direct relationship between vegetation and niche breadth of birds. Thus, the higher affinity of the location of vegetation, the greater number of similar species occurred between them. Species of birds are highly similar between proximate habitats like lowland dipterocarp forest and montane forest as well as montane and mossy forest than in vegetation with greater elevational gradient. Therefore, communities of birds with reference to diversity, abundance and endemism are distributed based on vegetation at increasing elevation in a tropical rainforest.
Mt. Malindang is one of the upland ranges where biodiversity has been severely threatened due to ... more Mt. Malindang is one of the upland ranges where biodiversity has been severely threatened due to forest loss. Fieldwork was conducted from October 2003 to December 2004 in 14 sampling sites from an elevation of 120 to over 1,700 m above sea level to assess the distribution of endemic and threatened herpetofaunal species. Twenty-six species of amphibians and 33 species of reptiles were observed for all sampling sites. The level of endemism for amphibians was 42% where 7 of the 11 recorded species are found only in Mindanao. Nine species were in the threatened category, 8 vulnerable and 1 endangered. For the reptiles, 48% endemicity was observed. No threatened species was found. Field observations show that the major threat to the herpetofauna is habitat destruction, particularly the conversion of the forest to agricultural farms by the local people. It was also observed that endemic and threatened species were distributed in high elevation sites (submontane, dipterocarp, almaciga, and montane forests). Despite habitat loss in Mt. Malindang, 18% of the recorded herpetofaunal species recorded in the Philippines were found in Mt. Malindang, indicating the conservation importance of this mountain range.
"Abstract.—We conducted a survey of the amphibians and reptiles found in lowland dipterocarp fore... more "Abstract.—We conducted a survey of the amphibians and reptiles found in lowland dipterocarp forest of the Philippines.
We used line transect and visual encounter surveys to study eight sites located in dipterocarp, montane, and mossy forests.
We found 15 reptiles (one order and six families) and nine amphibians (one order and five families). Endemicity in lower
elevations reached 80% for reptiles and 77.8% for amphibians. Reptiles endemic to Mindanao Island constituted 13.3%
of the Reptilia we identified. The species found in lowland dipterocarp forest face threats from anthropogenic
disturbances such as habitat conversion, and may be good indicators of biotic integrity. We suggest that lowland forest
habitats are critical for endemic species because these areas have significantly higher species richness and diversity than
found in the tropical forests at higher elevations."
A positive relationship between avifaunal distribution and vegetation may be interrupted by habit... more A positive relationship between avifaunal distribution and vegetation may be interrupted by habitat disturbances as environmental stresses. Hence, general pattern of avifaunal distribution across elevational gradients was qualitatively characterized. Vegetation ranging from lowland, montane and mossy forest was explored for bird utilization. A combination of participatory line transect survey and mist-netting technique were used to sample bird species in eight sampling sites in Mt. Hamiguitan Range from July 2006 to March 2007. There were a cumulative of 53 species of birds assigned to 26 families and 11 orders. Twenty species (37.8%) of which are Philippine endemics and 10 species (18.9%) are confined in Mindanao. With the altitudinal isolation of vegetation, the number of species, abundance and endemism increase as elevation decreases. Hence, there is a direct relationship between vegetation and niche breadth of birds. Thus, the higher affinity of the location of vegetation, the greater number of similar species occurred between them. Species of birds are highly similar between proximate habitats like lowland dipterocarp forest and montane forest as well as montane and mossy forest than in vegetation with greater elevational gradient. Therefore, communities of birds with reference to diversity, abundance and endemism are distributed based on vegetation at increasing elevation in a tropical rainforest.
Mt. Malindang is one of the upland ranges where biodiversity has been severely threatened due to ... more Mt. Malindang is one of the upland ranges where biodiversity has been severely threatened due to forest loss. Fieldwork was conducted from October 2003 to December 2004 in 14 sampling sites from an elevation of 120 to over 1,700 m above sea level to assess the distribution of endemic and threatened herpetofaunal species. Twenty-six species of amphibians and 33 species of reptiles were observed for all sampling sites. The level of endemism for amphibians was 42% where 7 of the 11 recorded species are found only in Mindanao. Nine species were in the threatened category, 8 vulnerable and 1 endangered. For the reptiles, 48% endemicity was observed. No threatened species was found. Field observations show that the major threat to the herpetofauna is habitat destruction, particularly the conversion of the forest to agricultural farms by the local people. It was also observed that endemic and threatened species were distributed in high elevation sites (submontane, dipterocarp, almaciga, and montane forests). Despite habitat loss in Mt. Malindang, 18% of the recorded herpetofaunal species recorded in the Philippines were found in Mt. Malindang, indicating the conservation importance of this mountain range.
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Papers by Fritzie Ates
We used line transect and visual encounter surveys to study eight sites located in dipterocarp, montane, and mossy forests.
We found 15 reptiles (one order and six families) and nine amphibians (one order and five families). Endemicity in lower
elevations reached 80% for reptiles and 77.8% for amphibians. Reptiles endemic to Mindanao Island constituted 13.3%
of the Reptilia we identified. The species found in lowland dipterocarp forest face threats from anthropogenic
disturbances such as habitat conversion, and may be good indicators of biotic integrity. We suggest that lowland forest
habitats are critical for endemic species because these areas have significantly higher species richness and diversity than
found in the tropical forests at higher elevations."
We used line transect and visual encounter surveys to study eight sites located in dipterocarp, montane, and mossy forests.
We found 15 reptiles (one order and six families) and nine amphibians (one order and five families). Endemicity in lower
elevations reached 80% for reptiles and 77.8% for amphibians. Reptiles endemic to Mindanao Island constituted 13.3%
of the Reptilia we identified. The species found in lowland dipterocarp forest face threats from anthropogenic
disturbances such as habitat conversion, and may be good indicators of biotic integrity. We suggest that lowland forest
habitats are critical for endemic species because these areas have significantly higher species richness and diversity than
found in the tropical forests at higher elevations."