Biodiversity Hot spot: Philippines
Biodiversity is the different kinds of life found on Earth. It can measure the variety of species found in each of earths ecosystem. Biodiversity is important because the loss of it can result in a loss of resources necessary for the survival of humans(Lee 2010). The biodiversity hotspot that we chose is the Philippines and it is considered a biodiversity hotspot because there are over 7,000 islands and of all the wildlife on Earth, a large percentage of it can only be found on the Philippines.
Background Information:
Our chosen hotspot occupies the Philippines. The Philippines is in the Asiacontinent and the latitude and longitude for the country are 11.8728° N, 122.8613° E. The capital of the Philippines is Manila. Tropical rainforest is the biome in the Philippines, which has a rich biodiversity. More than half of all the plants and animals in the world are to be found in tropical rain forests, threfore the net primary productivity in here is high.
Figure 1: A food web from oneocean.org
Discussion:
The Philippines hot spot provides the economic and natural services that any hotspot of extreme biodiversity would contain. A few of these things include fertile soil, fisheries, and cropland. The Philippines is a cluster of more than 7,000 islands where their waters are part of the coral triangle.
This biodiversity hotspot has undergone many impacts of environmental degradation. Since it’s of volcanic origin, the land has experienced active volcanoes. Earthquakes, heavy rain, and flooding by typhoons are a few of the other natural disasters experienced here (goconqr-Disaster Hotspot Case Study- Philippines). Land has also been destroyed by destructive resource use, conversion to cropland and mining, and human population pressure, having the highest population in southeast Asia, excluding Singapore (Ecosystem Profile The Philippines Hotpot 2001). “The Philippines is one of the world's most threatened hotspots, with only about seven percent of its original, old-growth, closed-canopy forest left. A mere three percent is estimated to remain in the lowland regions. About 14 percent of the original vegetation remains as secondary growth in various stages of degradation; these areas would probably be capable of regeneration if they are not disturbed further” (McGinley 2008). With such a high population and population growth, more of the land is going to be desired for agricultural use. Invasive species have also negatively impacted the wetlands of the philippines by interfering with the food web of giant cat fish, black bass, toads, frogs, the american bullfrog, and the leopard frog. Any sort of destruction has a severe impact on the Philippines hot spot because it has such a high rate of endemism. Endemism means a species is native or indigenous to that certain place. The Philippines holds 35% of the 580 recorded bird species, 60% of the 167 species of mammals, and 65% of the 10,000+ species of plants are endemic. The Philippines hot spot contains 193 threatened species and the extremely large amount of about 70% of the 21,000 record insect species here are endemic to this land, 65 endemic fish species, 160 out of 235 reptiles are endemic, and 85% of the 90 amphibian species (McGinley 2008). To conserve these critical species and extinction, protected land is crucial and enforcing that the land stays protected. To help increase the small amount of the 11% of land that is protected, there are organizations like cepf, who are a joint initiative that strive to protect hotspots in nature, that really focus on ensuring certain areas are properly protected through conducting research, investing, building awareness, and preserving the areas. They claim that ,"the National Biodiversity Conservation Priority-Setting Program convened a series of regional consultation workshops to identify, assess, and prioritize geographic areas that best represent biodiversity of the different centers of endemism in the country and to formulate the strategy and actions needed to conserve Philippine
biodiversity" (Ecosystem Profile The Philippines Hotpot 2001).
This biodiversity hotspot has undergone many impacts of environmental degradation. Since it’s of volcanic origin, the land has experienced active volcanoes. Earthquakes, heavy rain, and flooding by typhoons are a few of the other natural disasters experienced here (goconqr-Disaster Hotspot Case Study- Philippines). Land has also been destroyed by destructive resource use, conversion to cropland and mining, and human population pressure, having the highest population in southeast Asia, excluding Singapore (Ecosystem Profile The Philippines Hotpot 2001). “The Philippines is one of the world's most threatened hotspots, with only about seven percent of its original, old-growth, closed-canopy forest left. A mere three percent is estimated to remain in the lowland regions. About 14 percent of the original vegetation remains as secondary growth in various stages of degradation; these areas would probably be capable of regeneration if they are not disturbed further” (McGinley 2008). With such a high population and population growth, more of the land is going to be desired for agricultural use. Invasive species have also negatively impacted the wetlands of the philippines by interfering with the food web of giant cat fish, black bass, toads, frogs, the american bullfrog, and the leopard frog. Any sort of destruction has a severe impact on the Philippines hot spot because it has such a high rate of endemism. Endemism means a species is native or indigenous to that certain place. The Philippines holds 35% of the 580 recorded bird species, 60% of the 167 species of mammals, and 65% of the 10,000+ species of plants are endemic. The Philippines hot spot contains 193 threatened species and the extremely large amount of about 70% of the 21,000 record insect species here are endemic to this land, 65 endemic fish species, 160 out of 235 reptiles are endemic, and 85% of the 90 amphibian species (McGinley 2008). To conserve these critical species and extinction, protected land is crucial and enforcing that the land stays protected. To help increase the small amount of the 11% of land that is protected, there are organizations like cepf, who are a joint initiative that strive to protect hotspots in nature, that really focus on ensuring certain areas are properly protected through conducting research, investing, building awareness, and preserving the areas. They claim that ,"the National Biodiversity Conservation Priority-Setting Program convened a series of regional consultation workshops to identify, assess, and prioritize geographic areas that best represent biodiversity of the different centers of endemism in the country and to formulate the strategy and actions needed to conserve Philippine
biodiversity" (Ecosystem Profile The Philippines Hotpot 2001).
Figure 2: A KBA map of the Philippines
KBA's are used to measure Key Biodiversity Areas
Conclusion:
In conclusion the citizens of the Philippines should stop destroying the land because of their lack of appreciation of the unique, endemic biodiversity that it holds. Resource management, financial commitment, and enforcement of laws needs to be stepped up before these special species begin to go extinct. The organizations that strive to conserve what the Philippines hold should be taken more seriously and the public should be more informed. If the people of the Philippines were more informed on what their land holds, they surely wouldn’t want to destroy it.
Works Cited
McGinley, Mark. "Biological Diversity in the Philippines." Biological Diversity in the Philippines. 22 Aug. 2008. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"Ecosystem Profile The Philippines Hotpot." Www.cepf.net. 11 Dec. 2001. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"The Philippines' Forgotten Resource: Seagrass and Its Management." The Philippines' Forgotten Resource: Seagrass and Its Management. 1 Feb. 2003. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"Biodiversity." Foundation for the Philippine Environment. 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
Goldman, Lee. "A Biodiversity Hotspot in the Philippines." WorldWildlife.org. World Wildlife Fund, 10 Aug. 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"GoConqr - Disaster Hotspot Case Study- Philippines." GoConqr. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
"Tropical Rainforest in the Philippines." Tropical Rainforest in the Philippines. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
