ELEVATION, CLIMATEAND RAINFALL

- Declining temperatures and increasing rainfall in mountainous regions give rise to three major
types of rain forest, each with a unique set of plants and animals. Layers of humus are thin and
scattered in lowland forest,
build into a blanket at higher elevations

 The minimum annual rainfall varies throughout the country from 965mm (38 in) to 4064mm
(1600in). The monsoon rains are pulled in by hurricanes or as they are called in the pacific,
Typhoons.
 Typhoons (native term is bagyo)- common from june to October
- Generally, affect a wide area, sometimes half of the archipelago
- Come from the pacific ocean in the east and contain winds of 120km/hr (74mi/hr) or more
- Moving in a circle and an almost windless “eye of the typhoon ” moving to the west or
northwest with 17 to 25km/hr (10 to 15 mi/hr)

LIKELY IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

- Drought and flooding- forestry, agriculture and livelihood,health, and human settlement
- Changes in rainfall regimes and patterns ------- resulting to increase or decrease in water use and
temp. increases----- could lead to a triangle in the forest ecosystems
- Some of our forest could face die-backs
- El nino events could cause forest fires
- Communities may face the need to alter their traditions and livelihoods
----- can lead to further degradation of the environment
------- more extensive agricultural production in already degraded areas

THE ROLE OF TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS IN MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PHILIPPINES

- The world’s tropical forests (17.6km2) contain 428Gt C in vegetation and soils
- It is estimated that ~ 60 Gt C is exchanged between terrestrial ecosystems and the aatmosphere
every year, with a net terrestrial uptake of 0.7 +- 1.0 Gt C.
- 1920 (60%), 1960 (40%), 1998 (22.2%)

THREE GENERAL WAYS BY WHICH FOREST MANAGEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES:

1. Conservation of existing carbon sinks

2. Expansion of carbon stocks in forest lands
3. Substitution of wood products for fossil fuels-based products
- Considered to have the greatest mitigation potential in the long term (>50 years).
- Substitution of wood grown in plantations for coal in power generation can avoid C emission by
an amount up to four times that of C sequestered in the plantation
 OPPORTUNITIES UNDER THE EMERGING CARBON MARKET
1. Carbon sequestration projects
- Current price of carbon from forestry projects (about US $ 15 per ton C)
2. Reducing emission from deforestation and degradation (REDD)

SPECIES LIKELY TO BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

- Low-lying island species
- Mountain- top endemic species
- High latitude species
- Restricted range species
- Poor dispersers
- Extreme niche specialist

EFFECTS ON WILDLIFE SPECIES

- Changes in phenology of plants
- Changes in timing of events (breeding and migration)
- Disruption of species interactions and communities
- Synergisms with other stresses: disease, invasives, habitat degradation etc.
- Changes in ranges (shifting, contarcting, disappearing)
- Population density/land use changes as a result of climate change
- Changes in morphology
- Genetic frequencies may shift
LECTURE 4: PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIANS

- Characteristics
- Summary of frog diversity
- Guide to identification
- Representative species

WHAT ARE AMPHIBIANS?

- Amphibious= double life,larval metamorphosis
- Class amphibia
- Approximately 4000 species worldwide
- Anamniotes-lack embryonic membranes
- Naked moist skin with mucous glands
- Tetrapods with 4 limbs (except for caecilians) for terrestrial living
- Gills in larva and lungs in adults

REPRODUCTION

- Amplexus

MODE OF EGG-LAYING
- WATER SUSPENDED OR STRINGS OF BEADS
- WATER MOSTLY ATTACHED TO A SUBSTRATE
- EGGS ATTACHED TO LEAVES ABOVE WATER
- Eggs inside tree hole filled with rainwater
- Eggs in foam nest above pool of water
- Few large eggs undergoes direct development

LIFE CYCLE OF FROG

DESCRIPTION OF TADPOLE LARVA IN SOME PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIANS

Ichtyopis Free-living larva in pools of mountain streams
Barboroula Eggs are large unpigmented, larva light
colored
Leptobrachium Tadpoles large and blackish
Megophrys Tadpoles with funnel-shaped mouths in pools
Bufo Eggs darkly pigmented, tadpoles black
Pelophryne Larva lack functional mouth and gills and
don’t feed
Nyctixalus Free living larva in tree holes filled with rain
water
limnonectes Larva in pools, streams metamorphose in 150
days
  TYPES OF TADPOLES
- LEMANURAN- ANTERIOR GILL
- Scoptanuran- posterior gill
- Acosmanuran- lateral gill
 SKIN PIGMENTED OR NOT
 NUMBER OF UPPER AND LOWER ROWS OF LABIAL TEETH
 PRESENCE OF HORNY BEAK
 STRUCTURE OF MOUTH
 KEY FOR LARVA INCOMPLETE
 NEED TO DESCRIBE LARVA OF OTHER PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIANS

SOME PHILIPPINE FROGS THAT UNDERGO DIRECT DEVELOPMENT AND SKIP THE TADPOLE STAGE

- Platymantis
- Philautus
- Oreophryne

DISTINGUISHING CHARCTERS

- Webs on all toes or only hind toes, degree of webbing

- Supratympanic crest or fold, cranial crest
- Dorsolateral fold, V-shaped or W shaped dorsal ridges
- Dermal projections or tubercles on upper eyelids
- Size/shaped of pads or dilated disks on types of digits
- Shape of subtending phalanx and size of tubercles
- Number of subarticular tubercles under toes (2 or 3)
- Intercalary cartillagebetween distal and penultimate phalanges

ISSUES ON FIELD IDENTIFICATION

- Coloration after preservation lost- document

- Observing intercalary cartilage, supernumerary, subarticular and metacarpal tubercles on toes-
difficult
- Identifying juveniles and larva- incomplete key
- Dilated pads or penultimate digits- estimating size
- Need to collect vouchers and proper fixing- rare frogs?

AS BIOINDICATORS OF HABITAT HEALTH

- Restricted-range island endemics

- Forest dependent and limited microhabitats
- Tolerant and intolerant to disturbance and pollution
 MICROHABITATS USED BY PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIANS
- Tree canopy and epiphytes
- Vegetation by river
- Forest floor
- Leaf axils and tree holes
- Stream bed/pools
- River rocks/boulders
- Marsh or ponds

GENERAL BODY FORMS OF AMPHIBIANS

-arboreal

-Semiaquatic

-Terrestrial

-Burrowing

AMPHIBIAN TAXONOMY

1. Initial period of exploration- American and European museums (

Boullenger,Gunther,peters,boettger, stejneger)
2. Edward H. Taylor taxonomic publication,
3. RF Inger- “Zoological expedition 1946-1947; systematics and zoogeography of Philippine
amphibia”- monograph ofn Philippine amphibians (1954)
4. Walter Brown and Angel Alcal (1958=2000)
5. Review of Philippine amphibian taxonomy, molecular data ( Rafe Brown, Arvin Diesmos)

DESCRIBED SPECIES
- 101 (Alcala and brown)
- 105 (brow 2007)
- 107 (alcala et al 2012)
- 110 (diesmos et al 2015)

AMPHIBIAN DIVERSITY

- About 110 species in the Philippines

- 9 amphibian families in 2 orders (3 worldwide)
- Order Caudata/urodele- salamanders, newts
- Order Gymnophiona/ apoda- caecilians
- Order Salientia/ anura- frogs and toads
- Ceratobatrachidae and Ranidae largest families
- Many recently described, more await discovery
 AMPHIBIAN FAMILIES
- Ichthyophiidae- Caecilians (3)
- Bufonidae- True toads (7 species)
- Bombinatoridae- disk-tongued frogs (1 species)
- Megophryidae- Litter toads (5 species)
- Ceratobatrachidae- Forest frogs (31)
- Dicroglossidae- Fanged frogs (16)
- Ranidae- True frogs (17)
- Rhacophoridae- Tree frogs (16 species)
- Microhylidae- narrow-mouthed frogs (13)
- Eleutherodactylidae- (1)

FROGS WITH INTERNAL FERTILIZATION

- Ascaphus truei (oviparous)
- Eleutherodactylus coqui (oviparous)
- E. jasper (CR: ovoviviparous)
- Limnonectes larvaepartus (Iskandar et al. 2014)
- African Nimba toad, Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis (Sandberger-Loua et al. 2016) viviparous

THE PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIAN FAUNA (110 SPECIES)

- Caecilians ( Gymnophiona): 1 genera-3 species
- Frogs (anura): 30 genera- 107 species
- Species endemicity: exceptionally high at 94/110 or 85% are found only in the Philippines

ORDER Gymnophiona
FAMILY Ichthyophiidae- Caecilians
- Limbless, short tail pointed
- Burrowing small eyes covered
- Vermiform elongated body
- With segmented annuli rings
- (Ichtyophis weberi)- Caudaceacilia weberi
Palawan Caecilian
- Ichthyophis mindanaoensis
Mindanao caecilian
- Ichthyophis glandulosus
Basilan Caecilian

ORDER ANURA
FAMILY BUFONIDAE- TRUE TOADS (7)
- Generally terrestrial, no disks or small round pads on digits
- Rough warty moist skins
 - Pigmented larva, direct development
- Toothless and with parotoids
- Bufo true toads
- Montane Toad Ansonia with 2 species mcgregori and muelleri
- Toadlets Pelophryne with 3 species albotaeniata, breviceps and lighti
- Pelophryne brevipes
Southeast Asian toadlet

PHILIPPINE TOAD GIANT MARINE TOAD

Bufo philippinicus Bufo marinus (Rhinella marina)

(Ingerophrynus philippinicus) No crest,largest toad

Cranial crest, moderate size

FAMILY BOMBINATORIDAE

DISK-TOUNGED FROGS

- Tongue disk-shaped
- Highly aquatic, cool streams
- Large stout depressed body
- Small head but wide mouth
- Stout legs, with webbed feet
- Restricted to Palawan region
- Barbouroula busuangensis
Philippine Discoglossid frog

FAMILY MEGOPHRYIDAE (5)

LITTER TOADS

- Large head narrow body

- Spade on edge of hindfoot for burrowing backward
- Supratympanic fold
- Axillary gland flat or pointed
- Terrestrial,no disks on toes
- Well camouflaged in litter
- Inhabits forest floor litter
- Breeds in mountain pools
- Megophrys Horned Toad
Ex. Leptobarchium sp. Mindoro litter Toad

Leptobarchium hasselti (Hasselt’s toad) Megophrys stejnegeri (SE Asian Horned Toad)
Without pointed dermal projection on upper lid with prominent dermala projection on eyelid

Leptobarchium hasselti (2009)

Leptobarchium mangyanorum (mindoro)
Leptobarchium tagbanorum (palawan)
Leptobarchium lumadorum (mindanao)

FAMILY DICROGLOSSIDAE
GIANT RIVER FROGS
Limnonectes group
(fanged frogs)
Limnonectes acanthi
Limnonectes microcephalus
Limnonectes magnus

NEW SPECIES
Limnonectes ferneri, Ferner’s fanged frog 2009- Davao del norte

MODERATELY LARGE FROGS WITH DORSOLATERAL FOLDS

Limnonectes leytensis
Limnonectes woodworthi
Fejervarya vittigera
Hoplobatrachus chinensis (rugulosus)- Taiwan frog

COMMENSAL FROGS TOLERANT TO HUMAN HABITATS

Occidozyga laevis
Fejervarya vittigera
Hoplobatrachus chinensis (rugulosus)- Taiwan frog

FAMILY RANIDAE (TRUE FROGS)

- Large family of frogs with variable habits and sizes
- All spindle-shaped bodies
- Smooth slimy rugose skin
- Large tympanum
 - Protruding eyes
- With vomerine teeth
- No parotoids, some are edible
- Staurois natator Rock Frog
Clings to rocks along river

Hylarana everetti
Species complex
- Moderately large
- Large pads on digits
- Coloration varied

Rana everetti complex= Sanguirana

Cascade stream frog (Sanguirana aurantipunctata)

Rana signata (pulchrana) species complex

Recently split to 6
P. similis, P. grandocula, P. mangyanorum, P . guttmani, P. moellendorffi, P. melanomenta

SPECIES TOLERANT TO HUMAN HABITATS

- Hylarana (Rana) erythrea- common pond frog

FAMILY CERATOBATRACHIDAE

 Platymantis dorsalis group

- With 3 subarticular tubercles on 4th toe blunt and small disks on tips of digits short irregular
ridges on back
 Platymantis corrugatus
- Tips of toes slightly dilated masks on supratympanum long ridges on back

MEMBERS OF dorsalis GROUP NEW TO SCIENCE SYM[ATRIC AND EASILY CONFUSED WITH P.
dorsalis

Platymantis mimilus Platymantis pseudodorsalis

Diminutive Forest Frog Largest Forest frog

Platymantis guentheri group

- Digist with broad disks
- Subtending part of digit narrow
 - Subarticular tubercles protruding
- Terminal phalanx a wide T
- P. rabori and P. negrosensis

Platymantis hazelae group

- Arboreal, digits with broad disks, subtending part of digit wide, tubercles low and rounded,
terminal phalanx a wide T, and includes P. isarog and P.polilloensis

Platymantis bayani- 2009 (limestone samar)

Platymantis biak- 2010 29th species of platymantis

SYMPATRIC FOREST FROGS SHARE THE FOREST FLOOR BUT ISOLATED BY CALLS
MOUNT MAKILING FOREST FLOOR
- Platymantis mimulus
- Platymantis corrugatus
- Platymantis dorsalis
- Breed in same lowland forest,reproductively isolated since males have different advertisement
calls

FAMILY RHACOPHORIDAE (OLD WORLD TREE FROGS)

- Bodies less robust tapered

- Large adhesive toe disks
- Intercalary cartilage in between distal and penultimate phalanges
- Two subarticular tubercles beneath 4th toe ( platymantis with three)
- Horizontal pupil eyes
- Philautus surdus
Commo forest tree frog
Arboreal,eggs direct development

COMMON TREE FROG

Polypedates leucomystax
Head skin fused to skull,webs wide on hind toes only

SPINY TREE FROG

Nyctixalus spinosus
Cranial and supratymapanic crest, many pointed tubercles

GLIDING TREE FROG

Rhacophorus pardalis
Extensive webs on all toes, head skin fused to skull
 Rhacophorus bimaculatus
Skin smooth, tubercles below vent

Kurixalus appendiculatus
Denticulate fringe along arm and tarsus

FAMILY MICROHYLIDAE (NARROW- MOUTHED FROGS)

- Small mouth, pointed snout
- Robust body, dull-colored
- Some secrete latex from skin
- Kalophrynus sinensis
Black-spotted narrow mouthed frog, burrowing, pointed snout, dark ocellus on back at groin
- Oreophryne nana
Camiguin narrow mouthed frog
- Chaperina fusca- yellow spotted narrow mouthd frog
- Chorus frogs like Kaloula picta, Kaloula conjuncta, Kaloula baleata, Kaloula kokacii

Chevron pattern on back with dilated fingers, slightly dilated or truncated, supernumerary
tubercles present/absent

Eleutherodactylidae

-Eleutherodactylus planirostris

Greenhouse frog

Introduced
LECTURE 5: ASSESMENT OF HERPETOFAUNA

WHY ARE BIODIVERSITY ASSESMENTS NEEDED?

- Know the species present in an area (Establish benchmarks)

- Establish patterns of distribution
- Establish threatened list
- Used for monitoring biodiversity in an area (time series database)
- Used as biological indicators

AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES

- Difficult to identify
- Taxonomic changes
- Splits in taxa or even discovery of potential new taxa
- Proper and complete field recording and collection of voucher specimens

To record herpetofauna diversity, it is ideal to capture them.

All potential methods for increasing capture rates and facilitating field observation.

PREPARATION

- Reconnaissance
- Schedule
- Materials
- Food and water
- Coordination with LGUs

METHODS

Modified strip transect sampling

1. Designate a 250m strip transect in the selected sampling site

Straight line that can follow existing foot trails to minimize disturbance
2. Layout 10 alternating plots measuring 10 m x 10 m each side every 25 m and 5m perpendicular
to the transect
3. Mark these areas with flagging tapes. Total of 10 quadrants/site covering an area of 1000m2
4. Record GPS coordinates of the central point from each quadrat, along with two endpoints of the
transect line
5. Transverse the transect by scanning through and making searches in potential microhabitats (ex.
Streams,pools, tree holes, burrow, underneath fallen logs, under forest floor liiter, inside leaf
axils)