Search

Birds are crucial to maintaining the balance of many ecosystems by providing various ecological services. The diversity of birds and their feeding guilds in different landuse types were investigated in south-central Mindanao to elucidate the effect of disturbance and habitat modification on bird communities. Point count method was employed to identify birds in three habitat types: i) agroforests; ii) ricefields; iii) roads and heavily disturbed areas. A total of 1114 bird sightings were recorded that included 33 species of 24 families; of these, 3 were Philippine endemics, and 5 were migrant species. Among all of the habitat types, the highest species diversity was found in agroforests (1/D = 16.148), and the lowest was recorded from roads and heavily disturbed habitats. The species composition of agroforests was more similar to ricefields than to areas with high levels of disturbance, such as roads. The characteristic of the vegetation and the availability of food resources may be vital to the diversity of birds in every habitat as evidenced by the high species richness of frugivores and insectivores in agroforests and ricefields, respectively, where food source is largely available. The observation of Streptopelia tranquebarica was a new record for Mindanao, and it was particularly sighted in ricefields. Therefore, this study indicates that land-use change and modification may alter bird diversity structure, and the maintenance of the vegetation in land-use types as food and resource, and as habitat is essential to the conservation of the native and ecologically-important bird species in south-central Mindanao. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to its complex geological history and the emergence of various biogeographic regions, the Philippines boasts an extraordinary array of flora and fauna. This unique combination has contributed to the country's exceptional density of terrestrial species, making it amongst the highest in the world. Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines, is the second largest group of islands and supports high levels of endemism and proportion of threatened species. However, consolidated biodiversity records and information remain unavailable for the region. The primary goal of the Mindanao Open Biodiversity Information (MOBIOS + ) database is to address these substantial data deficiencies by compiling contemporary biodiversity information from the 21 st century. This initiative seeks to enhance our comprehension of biodiversity trends in Mindanao over temporal and spatial dimensions, while also creating an openly-accessible database. The database we present here is the first of its kind and currently the most comprehensive attempt to establish the largest consolidated database for Mindanao biodiversity, based on publicly available literature. With its vast collection of biodiversity data, this database will prove to be a valuable resource for advancing biodiversity research and analysis. It will further facilitate the identification of species and areas that require immediate conservation prioritisation and action, addressing the urgent challenges posed by our rapidly changing planet., New Information: The MOBIOS + database is the first attempt to create a massive FAIR database aiming to collate biodiversity records from published literature in the Mindanao faunal region, south of the Philippines. The database currently includes 12,813 georeferenced specimen occurrences representing 1,907 unique taxa across 10 animal classes inhabiting the terrestrial and freshwater environments of Mindanao faunal region. We made all georeferenced specimen occurrences available in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) platform., (Krizler Cejuela Tanalgo, Kier Celestial Dela Cruz, Angelo Rellama Agduma, Jeaneth Magelen V. Respicio, Sumaira S. Abdullah, Renee Jane Alvaro-Ele, Bona Abigail Hilario-Husain, Meriam Manampan-Rubio, Sedra A. Murray, Lothy F. Casim, Athea Mohidda M. Pantog, Shiela Mae P. Balase, Rallyessa Mohann A. Abdulkasan, Chasty Andrea S. Aguirre, Nadjmussahar L. Banto, Sheila Mae M. Broncate, Ace D. Dimacaling, Gerald Vince N. Fabrero, Asraf K. Lidasan, Analiza A. Lingcob, Ariane M. Millondaga, Kathlene Faye L. Panilla, Crystal Queen M. Sinadjan, Norlaine D. Unte.)

Bulgaria has a very rich bat fauna and large colonies of bats can be found in caves, mines and other underground roosts. Respectively, there are more than 107 underground roosts that are listed as important bat sites, most of which are protected by statutory laws and are of national or international importance. Despite the existence of formal protection, many roosts face anthropogenic disturbances due to the popularity of outdoor activities, such as caving and the lack of actual regulation. Currently, the evaluation was only based on the size of the colony and the presence of protected species. However, this approach is limited to roosts that contain high diversity and neglects the ones that contain high biotic importance that are highly threatened by various threats. Here, we evaluated conservation priorities and identified the most vulnerable underground bat roosts in Bulgaria, using the Bat Cave Vulnerability Index and proposed measures to adequately protect sites. We found that 32% of the Bulgarian bat roosts assessed are at a "high priority" level for conservation and protection, while 39% are at a "medium priority" that may require constant monitoring. This novel and integrative approach applied to bat roost prioritisation in the country enabled the detection of sites that need urgent conservation attention and is the first step in establishing better strategies for the bat monitoring network in Bulgaria., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Stanimira Deleva, Nia Toshkova, Maksim Kolev, Krizler Cejuela Tanalgo.)