Conservation Status and Diversity of Terrestrial Mammals in the

USC Biological Museum, University of San Carlos –

Technological Center

Julius M. Manolong Anna Freya JaymeQuennie Ann Uy

BS BIO-ES 3

Introduction

• Mammals are considered to be flagship species, thus people tend to be motivated to conserve nature easily because of their interesting and attractive features (Marnell, Kingston, and Looney, 2009; Cunningham, Cunningham, and Saigo, 2005

• They are also considered to be umbrella species and protecting their habitat would benefit other species as well (Hunter, 1995, as cited by Marnell, Kingston, and Looney, 2009; Cunningham, Cunningham, and Saigo, 2005).

• Philippines- 165 species of terrestrial mammals and 121 of these species are known to be endemic

(IUCN 2000)

• According to Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priority-Setting Program (PBCPP) - these 165

terrestrial mammals are considered to be endangered to critically endangered.

• Many studies have been focused on the diversity of terrestrial mammals in their natural habitats, yet there has not been any study which centered in the diversity of the terrestrial mammals found

in preservation sites like museums.

Objectives:

• determine what kinds of terrestrial mammals are found in the USC Biological Museum’s Wildlife Section.

• determine the diversity of the terrestrial mammals in the museum

• Know the factors that cause the decrease of the population of the species

• conservation efforts in each species and the factors that trigger people to conserve species that are threatened or near extinction.

Significance of the Study

• would help the students not only in the university but also of other schools to know the diverse and interesting collection of terrestrial mammals in the USC Biological Museum

• community would benefit as well by knowing that the kinds of species that are found in the museum can also be found in the country, thus they will be motivated to help in the conservation of nature.

Methodology

OCULAR VISIT Collection of Secondary Data Interview

DocumentationData

Analysis

Making ofGraphs/charts

Computing diversity

Shannon-Weiner

Simpson’s indexPie Charts

Column Charts

Fig. 1. USC Biological Museum found is found at the upper basement floor of Engineering Conference Center.

Results and Discussion

Population of Species • The different terrestrial mammals found in the

USC Biological Museum revealed a rich variety of species

• 22 species of mammals with varying sizes, geographical distribution in the wild, and habitat preferences

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

Species

No

. o

f In

div

idu

als

Viverra tangalunga

Pteropus hypomelanus

Rousettus amplexicaudatus

Cynopterus brachyotis

Sundasciurus tenuis

Fig.2. Top 5 species in the USC Biological Museum with highest population

Species Diversity

• Shannon-Weiner index showed a high diversity of 2.82 which connotes that the mammals in the museum are greatly high in number and in evenness

• Simpson’s diversity index resulted on a diversity of 0.96 which also connotes a highly diverse group of mammals in the area being 1 as the highest. The Simpson’s reciprocal index has a value of 22.7 which is more than half of 43 being the maximum value

Bubalus bubalus

Pteropus haepomelanus

Cynopterus brachyotis

Viverra tangalunga

Vulpex corsac

opposumVulpex corsac

Aonyx sp.

Conservation Status• Least Concerned (LC), Near Threatened (NT),

Vulnerable (VU), Endangered (EN) and Critically

Endangered (CE).

LC75%

EN10%

NT5%

VU5%0%

CE5%

Fig.3 Conservation status of the Animals in the Museum

• One major threat that causes decrease on population of a certain organism is deforestation.

Deforestation

Hunting

None

Poaching

Fig. 4 Major causes of Population Decrease

• Evidence suggests that deforestation is currently and is projected to be the prime direct and indirect cause of population decrease and eventually extinction. And as predicted, 21% of Southeast Asian forest species will be lost by 2100 because of ongoing deforestations (Sodhi, Brook and Bradshaw 2009).

• The Malayan Pangolin (Paramins javanica) is already an endangered animal (IUCN) and one major threat is the habitat loss which is also due to deforestation and hunting. Although these animals are distributed on the mainland Southeast Asia, it doesn’t necessarily mean that are not prone to extinction anymore.

• Together with the Malayan Pangolin, the Philippine Mouse-deer (Tragalus nigricans) is also classified as Endangered. It is only located in the Philippines and no current conservation effort is done but major threats include habitat loss and poaching.

Conservation EffortsEndangered mammals w/o conservation efforts:

Philippine Mouse-deer (Tragalus nigricans)Flying Squirrel (Hylopetes nigripis)Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo (Bubalus bubalus)Horse-shoe bat (Rhinolopus borneensis).

Reasons why people conserve

1. Biased towards the charismatic, while less lovable threatened species risk being neglected (Adam and Cole 2010);

2. In the face of limited time and resources, umbrella species offer an appealing shortcut to land managers (Fleishman, Murphy and Blair 2001);

3. People tend to conserve only those that have direct benefits to human beings especially on lifestyle, food and medicine ( Kaimowitz and Sheil 2007).

Summary and Conclusion

• The study on the terrestrial mammals in the USC Biological Museum showed 22 species having the Malayan civet (Viverra tangalunga) as the most numerous in terms of number.

• Shannon-Weiner Index and Simpson’s diversity index further attests that the mammals in the museum are highly diverse as far as richness and evenness are concerned.

• Most terrestrial mammals in the USC Biological Museum are least concerned.

• Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo (Bubalus mindorensis) is critically endangered due to destruction of habitat through deforestation. These species which are only confined in the Philippines and are already at the brink of extinction requires greater priority for conservation.

• The USC houses several groups of mammals and it maintains the richness of the species there although they are already dead.

• We have so many terrestrial mammals today that need our help and most especially those endemic in the Philippines.