Hungryfeed test page plus tablepress.
Sanguila also stresses the importance of conserving what is left of Mindanao’s forests, especially now that we know what a special place it is. Although much of the original forest cover in the lowlands have been lost, she believes it is critical to establish new protected areas to halt the environmentally destructive harvest of natural resources, to promote societal environmental awareness, and to allow habitats to regenerate over several decades.
Siler hopes this paper is only the beginning of a bright future for biodiversity research in the area. He plans to continue working with the University of Kansas, graduate students from the program – many of whom have started their own programs in the United States – as well as their Philippine collaborators.
Myanmar Army: The national armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. |
---|
Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA): A multilateral agreement that calls for political dialogue between the Myanmar army and the country’s ethnic armed organizations. Signed on Oct. 15, 2015 by the Tatmadaw and eight armed groups. |
Border Guard Forces (BGFs): Created by the Tatmadaw in 2009 and 2010. They were formed by integrating Tatmadaw soldiers with those from units originally with either ethnic armed organizations or militia groups. The BGFs have served as proxy forces for the Tatmadaw to exercise influence in areas not under their direct control. |
Karen National Union (KNU): Formed in the late 1947, the KNU is Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed opposition group. The KNU initially called for independence, but since 1976 has instead been seeking a federal system. Signed a bilateral ceasefire with the government in 2012 and is part of the NCA. |
Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA): Formal armed wing of the KNU. It was founded in 1949. |
“When you do survey work on Mindanao, two main issues need to be addressed; security-related and local (within site) politics,” Sanguila said. Culturally, Mindanao is incredibly complex and diverse. The island is home to some two dozen ethnolinguistic groups speaking roughly 70 languages, who often have conflicting interests over how to use the island’s rich agricultural and natural resources. Proper precautions had to be taken before researchers could go into the field, including meeting with local authorities, tribal leaders, hunters, police and military for advice.
All that hard work is now paying off. “Having [Sanguila] down there and being one of the more active biodiversity researchers in the southern Philippines is a fantastic position to develop new conservation initiatives and awareness about biodiversity,” Siler said. In 2013, Sanguila came to the University of Oklahoma on a Fulbright scholarship to study genetic sampling techniques as well as the ins and outs of building and caring for a natural history collection. It was there, in collaboration with Siler, that the ambitious project to survey the reptiles and amphibians of Mindanao was born.
Another major goal of the research was to update outdated IUCN conservation status assessments by sorting out unresolved taxonomic questions. That work, the researchers say, has just begun. Many more long-term species surveys are needed to truly understand the diversity and conservation status of the reptiles and amphibians of Mindanao. That will require using modern genetic sampling techniques as well as input from more traditional taxonomists who perform the detailed work of teasing apart species relationships. According to Sanguila, 20 percent of the species recorded require “immediate systematic revisions” before informed decisions can be made regarding their conservation status.
- Irrawaddy dolphin death in Thailand’s Songkhla Lake underscores conservation needsby Isabel Esterman on March 19, 2024 at 9:02 am
The recent death of a critically endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Lake has brought the plight of the waterbody’s tiny remaining population into stark focus. As few as 14 of the dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris, are thought to survive in the lake amid a slew of threats ranging from entanglement in fishing gear
- UN probes controversial forest carbon agreement in Malaysian Borneoby John Cannon on March 18, 2024 at 8:01 pm
The state government of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo has reaffirmed its plans to proceed with an opaque nature conservation agreement despite concerns raised by the United Nations. Representatives of Sabah’s government and a representative of a Singaporean company called Hoch Standard Pte. Ltd. signed the agreement, which included the rights to carbon and other marketable
- Fanned by El Niño, megafires in Brazil threaten Amazon’s preserved areasby Alexandredesanti on March 18, 2024 at 7:27 pm
Researchers and protection agencies expected a dry season with more fires in Brazil’s Roraima state at the start of 2024, but the effects of an intense and prolonged El Niño have aggravated the situation.
- Rising temperatures threaten the tiny animals responsible for groundwater qualityby Jeremy Hance on March 18, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Underground ecosystems are everywhere. From gargantuan lightless mazes to pore-sized bedrock gaps inhabited by microfauna — super tiny animals — these ecosystems are believed to be the most widespread nonmarine environments on the planet, according to a 2019 paper in BioScience. Just like the underwater depths, science still knows precious little about this vast kingdom
- Chocó land deal shows flaws in Ecuador’s forestry incentive programby Alexandrapopescu on March 18, 2024 at 4:09 pm
By now, dozens of countries have some version of a forestry incentive program, with the government paying local property owners to keep their trees in the ground. But a lot of the programs have come under scrutiny because they’re easy to manipulate and hard to monitor. The one in Ecuador, Socio Bosque, one of the
- Oman’s mountain oases offer ancient farming lessons for a warming futureby Nandithachandraprakash on March 18, 2024 at 3:34 pm
In some ways, village life on Oman’s Jabal Akhdar Mountain is the same as it has always been. Water still runs through the ancient aflaj channels. People still cultivate pomegranates, walnuts and grapes. Goats still go out to pasture, and the day begins and ends with the call to prayer. In other ways, life —
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakoutby Philip Jacobson on March 18, 2024 at 3:13 pm
SOUTH KULAWI, Indonesia — In a forested valley in the interior of Sulawesi Island, Elisabet Heta gathers up a clutch of farming tools used by the Moa Indigenous people and leaves home. “I want to go to the pampa,” Elisabet told Mongabay Indonesia, before the mother of four set out for the fields here in
- Fertilizer management could reduce ammonia pollution from 3 staple crops: Studyby Glenn Scherer on March 18, 2024 at 2:11 pm
A machine learning model of ammonia emissions from the world’s rice, wheat and corn crops shows that optimal fertilizer management could slash ammonia air pollution from these crops by 38%.
- In Peru, conservationists and authorities struggle to get turtle eggs off the menuby Alexandrapopescu on March 18, 2024 at 11:12 am
IQUITOS, Peru — “Oh, they’re so delicious,” said Soledad Coronil, an elderly local woman, as she enjoyed a boiled tortoise egg earlier this year. “You have to open the shell and dig out the insides, either with your hand or with a spoon. I like to add a bit of salt, too.” Coronil’s meal, which
- Spying on wildlife with biorobots: Interview with engineer Kamilo Meloby Abhishyantkidangoor on March 18, 2024 at 2:50 am
Kamilo Melo was building a robot shaped like a salamander for his Ph.D. in 2015 when an unexpected assignment came knocking on his door. Two producers at the BBC were keen to rope him in for a nature documentary. The brief was simple and complicated at the same time: build robots shaped like a crocodile
- Fires surge in the Amazon, but deforestation continues to fallby Rhett Butler on March 17, 2024 at 12:05 am
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has continued on a downward trajectory despite a sharp increase in fires associated with the severe drought in the region, reveals data released by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE). According to figures published by INPE earlier this month, forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon amounted to 5,010 square kilometers
- Toilet paper: Environmentally impactful, but alternatives are rolling outby Glenn Scherer on March 15, 2024 at 3:26 pm
Most used in China, North America, Europe and Australia, TP causes deforestation, needs lots of energy and water to make, and is hard to dispose of. Solutions abound, from the bidet, to recycled paper, bamboo and other alternatives.
- Brazilian youngsters discuss how they are tackling the climate emergencyby Xavier Bartaburu on March 15, 2024 at 11:58 am
The climate emergency has affected development and violated the rights of children and adolescents around the world, and in Brazil. In addition to fires, prolonged, extreme droughts make access to water difficult and disrupt eating patterns. Excessive rainfall and other disasters leave people homeless, force their displacement and cancel school activities. Pollution, heat waves and
- To detect illegal roads in remote areas, AI comes into playby Abhishyantkidangoor on March 15, 2024 at 11:03 am
For years, detecting illegal roads in remote areas has remained a challenging and labor-intensive task. More often than not, it requires poring over satellite images to identify thin lines cut through the dense green of forests and fragile ecosystems. Enter artificial intelligence. A new study published in the journal Remote Sensing describes how scientists have
- Huge new no-fishing zones give Antarctic marine predators and their prey a breakby Rebecca Kessler on March 14, 2024 at 7:02 pm
Thousands of miles off the southeast coast of South America lies a set of remote islands, one broad and comma-shaped, the others a series of small dots that trail off into the South Atlantic Ocean. These are the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located north of the icy mass of Antarctica. The islands, which
- Brazil’s Amazonian states push for court reforms in bid for justiceby Alexandredesanti on March 14, 2024 at 7:01 pm
Amazonian states have gone largely unrepresented at the top of the Brazilian judicial system for decades, a political distortion that has spurred calls for reform.
- E-Sak Ka Ou Declaration underscores Indigenous rights as a conservation solution (commentary)by Erik Hoffner on March 14, 2024 at 5:50 pm
It was a sunny day in Koh Lanta, an island known for tourism in Krabi Province, Thailand. Surrounding us were calming shades of blue and green, a white sandy beach with endless coconut trees and a salty breeze that ruffled the crystal-clear waters. But for the first time, I was here not as a tourist
- Mini radio tags help track ‘murder hornets’ and other invasive insectsby Jeremy Hance on March 14, 2024 at 5:30 pm
The yellow-legged hornet is a predator: after it sets up a nest in a new neighborhood, its workers head out in search of smaller wasps, flies and bees to feed the hive’s growing brood. One of its favorite snacks is honey bees. Lingering outside a hive, these hornets, Vespa velutina, capture flying honey bees mid-air,
- Climate change brews trouble for tea industry, but circular solutions awaitby Jeremy Hance on March 14, 2024 at 5:15 pm
It’s estimated that we drink around 5 billion cups of tea every day. Producing this vast quantity of leaves to quench global thirst for black, green and other varieties is an industry that spans more than 60 tropical and subtropical countries and largely depends on smallholder farmers. Globally, agriculture plays a large part in driving
- Not just polar bears — climate change could push African rhinos to extinctionby Jeremy Hance on March 14, 2024 at 3:06 pm
New research is ringing alarm bells about how climate change may impact one of Africa’s most iconic and vulnerable animals: the rhinoceros. “Climate change has the potential of wiping out all of them in the blink of an eye,” says Hlelolwenkhosi Mamba, an Eswatini native and Fulbright scholar. Mamba and Timothy Randhir, from the University
Recent Comments