Wild Expeditions in Central Mindanao
New records, high biodiversity, an enthusiastic team, and a promising landscape worth protecting for – this briefly describes the full-week assessment at Libungan River Watershed Forest Reserve conducted on October 2022.
Considered as a megadiverse island, Mindanao is also a biodiversity hotspot as high proportion of threatened species are found on the island. Though there is the famous Mt. Apo Natural Park within North Cotabato, the Libungan River Watershed Forest Reserve (LRWFR) contains large tracts of forests that is situated in western Mindanao right in between the sub-biogeographic zones of northern and southern Mindanao making it unique between the other forests in the region. LRWFR is an initial component of protected areas system in the Philippines but there is very little information known about its biodiversity.
A total of 127 species of birds wherein 77 (61%) are endemic species. Twenty-nine (29) classified as threatened under the DENR DAO No. 2019-09 were recorded in LRWFR. Since there is little survey and study conducted in LRWFR there is limited information on its birds and other biodiversity. Five bird species recorded in the survey are new distribution records for the species, this includes the restricted-range threatened Mindanao endemic species Mindanao highland scops-owl Otus mirus, Southern silvery kingfisher Ceyx argentatus, Mindanao serin Chrysocorythus mindanensis; the Philippine endemic Bukidnon woodcock Scolopax bukidnonensis; and the resident Great-eared nightjar Lyncornis macrotis, all of which are first records in LRWFR.
A total of seven species of bats (two families) were recorded during the survey, 86% of which are endemic including the Philippine pygmy fruit bat, Greater musky fruit bat and Harpy fruit bat. Moreover, evidences of presence of the Philippine warty pig and the Mindanao squirrel were also encountered. The Philippine brown deer was also reported by locals.
A total of 16 species (10 families) of herpetofauna were recorded, 11 were amphibians (five families) and five were reptiles (five families). Overall, 13 of the 16 species are endemic including nine Mindanao biogeographic region endemic species. Two species are categorized as Other Threatened Species (OTS) under DENR DAO 2019-09. Significantly, nine of the 16 species (57%) of herpetofauna recorded from the survey were new distribution records of these species. Significantly, 9 of the 16 species (57%) of herps recorded from the survey are new distribution records of these species: the Big-eyed frog P. granducola, Pointed-snouted tree frog P. acutirostris, Mindanao bush frog P. leitensis, Spiny treefrog N. spinosus, Pelophryne brevipes, Mindanao horned frog Megophrys stejnegeri, Mindanao litter frog L. lomadorum, Mindanao fanged frog L. magnus and C. nuchali.
For plants, a total of 155 vascular plant species (46 plant families) were initially identified and recorded in LRWFR. The family Orchidaceae was the most well-represented family with 25 genera and 47 species, while the genus Calanthe recorded the most species (8). Of all the identified plants, 19 were Philippine endemics and seven were Mindanao endemics.
A considerable area of forest adjacent to the boundaries of the proposed LRWFR protected area was home to several threatened endemic species and was part of the overall landscape ecosystem of LRWFR. The forest is under the jurisdiction of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Protection and conservation of the LRWFR should include this forest and the entire lake systems. Both ecosystems are connected and linked ecologically and the conservation of LRWFR protects the water the LGUs and communities depend on the protective cover of the mountain range from storms and heavy flooding.
