Preliminary Analysis of the Diet of Triturus carnifex and Pollution in Mountain Karst Ponds in Central Apennines

Mountain karst ponds are sensitive environments, hosting complex trophic networks where amphibians play a major role, often as top predators. The diet of the Italian crested newt (Triturus carnifex) is still poorly known for populations occupying mountain karst ponds. These are traditionally used as livestock’s watering points, leading to water pollution due to excreta and wading behavior. The aim of this paper is to understand the relationship between T. carnifex diet composition, assessed through the stomach flushing technique, and physical and chemical characteristics in mountain ponds, focusing on parameters altered by livestock pressure, such as ammonium concentration and dissolved oxygen. The high diversity of prey items found within the newts’ gut contents confirms the generalist diet even in mountain ponds. The number of prey taxa, their relative abundance and Shannon–Wiener diversity index show variations among the sampled sites, related to livestock organic pollution. Moreover, we report the very first European records of microplastic items in amphibians’ stomach content, which also represent the first evidence for Caudata worldwide. Our findings suggest that livestock pressure directly influences T. carnifex diet and highlight that the emerging issue of plastics is a threat even in remote high-altitude environments.

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The use of zoobenthos for the assessment of water quality in canals influenced by landfilling and agricultural activity

Journal of Vietnamese Environment ◽

10.13141/jve.vol11.no2.pp33-42 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 33-42

Author(s):

Thanh Giao Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Aquatic Environment ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Water Status ◽

Average Score ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Agricultural Activities ◽

Limnodrilus Hoffmeisteri ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Physical And Chemical

The aquatic environment and zoobenthos are closely related in a water body. In recent years, the use of zoobenthos to evaluate water quality is getting more attention as this approach is less polluting and less costly. This study was conducted to assess the diversity of zoobenthos in the canals affected by leachate and agricultural activities. Five sediment samples were collected in two campaigns, one in April and one in October 2018. Water samples were also collected at the same time for zoobenthos to assess the water quality and serve as a reference for assessing the effectiveness of using zoobenthos as water quality indication. In total, 17 species of zoobenthos belonging to six families and four classes were identified, of which Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri and Tendipes species being present regularly at sampling sites through the surveys. The calculations of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H'), rapid bioassessment protocol (RBP III), and associated average score per taxon (ASPT) indices based on species composition indicated that the water environment surrounding the landfill was moderately to severely polluted. However, the water quality index (WQI) calculated based on the physical and chemical properties shows that the level of water pollution in canals was less than that evaluated using zoobenthos. This can be explained by the fact that zoobenthos also affected the properties of sediments which depend on the water column. The findings in this study showed that the aquatic environment around the landfill is heavily contaminated as result of waste disposal and agricultural activities. The use of both zoobenthos combined with physical and chemical indicators could be useful in assessing the canals’ water status. Môi trường nước và động vật đáy có liên quan mật thiết với nhau trong một thủy vực. Trong những năm gần đây, việc sử dụng động vật đáy để đánh giá chất lượng môi trường nước mặt được quan tâm vì phương pháp này ít gây ô nhiễm môi trường và ít tốn kém chi phí. Nghiên cứu được tiến hành để đánh giá sự phân bố của động vật đáy trong hệ thống kênh rạch chịu tác động từ nước rỉ rác và các hoạt động sản xuất nông nghiệp. Năm mẫu động vật đáy được thu hai đợt, đợt 1 vào tháng 4 và đợt 2 vào tháng 10 năm 2018. Mẫu nước cũng được thu để đánh giá chất lượng nước và làm cơ sở đánh giá hiệu quả của việc sử dụng động vật đáy làm chỉ thị chất lượng môi trường nước. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy thành phần động vật đáy phát hiện 17 loài thuộc 6 họ và 4 lớp, trong đó các loài Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri và loài Tendipes hiện diện thường xuyên ở tất cả các điểm thu mẫu qua hai đợt khảo sát. Dựa vào thành phần loài tính toán các chỉ số Shannon-Wiener (H’), chỉ số đánh giá nhanh sinh học (RBP III), và chỉ số tính điểm trung bình bình theo họ (ASPT) cho thấy môi trường ô nhiễm rất nặng trong khi đó chỉ số WQI được tính toán dựa vào các chỉ tiêu lý hóa cho thấy mức độ ô nhiễm nước ở kênh xung quanh bãi rác chỉ ở mức nhẹ hơn. Như vậy, việc sử dụng động vật đáy cho kết quả đánh giá chất lượng nước với mức độ ô nhiễm cao hơn. Điều này có thể giải thích là do động vật đáy chịu ảnh hưởng bởi đặc tính nền đáy và cột nước bên trên nền đáy. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy môi trường nước xung quanh bãi rác bị ô nhiễm nặng do xả thải và hoạt động sản xuất nông nghiệp. Việc sử dụng động vật đáy kết hợp với các chỉ tiêu lý, hóa có thể hữu ích hơn trong việc đánh giá hiện trạng nước kênh.

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Use of local Hydromacrophytes as phytoremediation agent in pond to improve irrigation water quality evaluated by Diatom Biotic Indices

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity ◽

10.13057/biodiv/d180439 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 1611-1617

Author(s):

CATUR RETNANINGDYAH ◽

ENDANG ENDANG ARISOESILANINGSIH ◽

SETIJONO SAMINO

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Irrigation Water ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Water Discharge ◽

Organic Pollution ◽

Biotic Indices ◽

Irrigation Water Quality ◽

Domestic Activity ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Physico Chemical

Retnaningdyah C, Arisoesilaningsih E, Samino S. 2017. Use of local Hydromacrophytes as phytoremediation agent in pond to improve irrigation water quality evaluated by Diatom Biotic Indices. Biodiversitas 18: 1596-1602. Irrigation water in Indonesia generally has been polluted because of agricultural, industrial and domestic activity. The aims of this research were to determine the effectiveness of phytoremediation models conducted by planting some local Hydromacrophytes in three phytoremediation ponds through a continuous culture system with water discharge about 0.3 L/seconds for improving the irrigation water quality. The quasiexperimental research was conducted in a phytoremediation pond located in Kepanjen District of Malang, East Java Indonesia. The phytoremediation pond was divided into four interconnected sections. Pond 1 and 2 were planted with some of floating leaf and emergent hydromacrophyte, pond 3 was planted by combinations of same plants added with submerged Hydromacrophytes, while pond 4 was container pond to collecting the water as a result of phytoremediation process. The success of phytoremediation process was known from some physico-chemical parameters of water and some of diatom biotic indices (trophic diatom index/TDI, percentage of pollution tolerant value (%PTV), and Shannon Wiener diversity Index) that was found from artificial substrate been installed in the early treatment. The water quality monitoring performed in each part of the ponds after the plants grew steadily. The results showed that planting of Hydromacrophytes can significantly improve the physico-chemical quality of water. This was reflected in the decline value of conductivity (from 188 Î¼S/cm to 182 Î¼S/cm), turbidity (30 NTU become 8 NTU), total suspended solid (TSS) from 31.3 mg/L to be 5.5 mg/L, nitrates (7.5 mg/L to 3.3 mg/L) and dissolved phosphates (from 0.16 mg./L become 0.04 mg/L) and increasing value of dissolved oxygen (DO) in waters from 2.6 mg/L become 2.9 mg/L. Based on biotic indices there were improvement of the water quality from heavily polluted (diversity index 0.91) become moderately polluted (diversity index 2.07), eutrophic (TDI 52) become mesoeutrophic (TDI 38), and from heavily organic pollution (PTV 93%) to be some organic pollution contribute to eutrophication (PTV 38%). Improvement of water quality was effectively occur after passing through the third pond.

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Effects of Plastic Debris on the Biofilm Bacterial Communities in Lake Water

Water ◽

10.3390/w13111465 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 1465

Author(s):

Chao Shen ◽

Liuyan Huang ◽

Guangwu Xie ◽

Yulai Wang ◽

Zongkai Ma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Bacterial Community Structure ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Plastic Substrate ◽

Simpson Index ◽

Plastic Debris ◽

Plastic Substrates ◽

Wiener Diversity Index

Increasing discharge of plastic debris into aquatic ecosystems and the worsening ecological risks have received growing attention. Once released, plastic debris could serve as a new substrate for microbes in waters. The complex relationship between plastics and biofilms has aroused great interest. To confirm the hypothesis that the presence of plastic in water affects the composition of biofilm in natural state, in situ biofilm culture experiments were conducted in a lake for 40 days. The diversity of biofilm attached on natural (cobble stones (CS) and wood) and plastic substrates (Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)) were compared, and the community structure and composition were also analyzed. Results from high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA showed that the diversity and species richness of biofilm bacterial communities on natural substrate (observed species of 1353~1945, Simpson index of 0.977~0.989 and Shannon–Wiener diversity index of 7.42~8.60) were much higher than those on plastic substrates (observed species of 900~1146, Simpson index of 0.914~0.975 and Shannon–Wiener diversity index of 5.47~6.99). The NMDS analyses were used to confirm the taxonomic significance between different samples, and Anosim (p = 0.001, R = 0.892) and Adonis (p = 0.001, R = 808, F = 11.19) demonstrated that this classification was statistically rigorous. Different dominant bacterial communities were found on plastic and natural substrates. Alphaproteobacterial, Betaproteobacteria and Synechococcophycideae dominated on the plastic substrate, while Gammaproteobacteria, Phycisphaerae and Planctomycetia played the main role on the natural substrates. The bacterial community structure of the two substrates also showed significant difference which is consistent with previous studies using other polymer types. Our results shed light on the fact that plastic debris can serve as a new habitat for biofilm colonization, unlike natural substrates, pathogens and plastic-degrading microorganisms selectively attached to plastic substrates, which affected the bacterial community structure and composition in aquatic environment. This study provided a new insight into understanding the potential impacts of plastics serving as a new habitat for microbial communities in freshwater environments. Future research should focus on the potential impacts of plastic-attached biofilms in various aquatic environments and the whole life cycle of plastics (i.e., from plastic fragments to microplastics) and also microbial flock characteristics using microbial plastics in the natural environment should also be addressed.

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Effects of Ecological Restoration Using Non-Native Mangrove Kandelia obovata to Replace Invasive Spartina alterniflora on Intertidal Macrobenthos Community in Maoyan Island (Zhejiang, China)

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering ◽

10.3390/jmse9080788 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 788

Author(s):

Qiuxuan Wang ◽

Carlos Duarte ◽

Li Song ◽

George Christakos ◽

Susana Agusti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Ecological Restoration ◽

Spartina Alterniflora ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Invasion History ◽

Kandelia Obovata ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Spatial Differences ◽

Average Biomass

Spartina alterniflora has extensively invaded the coastline of China, including in Maoyan Island of Zhejiang Province. Ecological restoration has been conducted using non-native mangrove Kandelia obovata to replace S. alterniflora in an attempt to restore the impacted intertidal zones. To illustrate the ecological effectiveness of the restoration projects, macrobenthos communities were studied among different habitats within the restored areas, including one non-restored S. alterniflora marsh (SA) and three differently-aged restored K. obovata stands planted in 2003, 2009, and 2011 respectively (KF14, KF8, and KF6). Besides, one unvegetated mudflat (MF) adjacent to the non-restored S. alterniflora marsh and one K. obovata forest transplanted in 2006 (RKF) at a previously barren mudflat without invasion history of S. alterniflora were set as reference sites. A total of 69 species of macrobenthos were collected from Maoyan Island, and the species richness was dominated by gastropoda (23 species), polychaeta (18 species), and malacostraca (16 species). There was no significant difference between the six sites in terms of the abundance of macrobenthos, with the average values of abundance peaking in KF6 (734.7 ind m−2) and being lowest in RKF (341.3 ind m−2). The six sites had significant differences in terms of the biomass of macrobenthos. The KF8 site contained the highest average biomass (168.3 g m−2), whereas the MF site had the lowest (54.3 g m−2). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Pielou’s evenness index of the macrobenthos did not exhibit significant differences among the six sites. However, the results of permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) revealed significant spatial differences in the macrobenthos community structure between the sites. Since KF14 shared a similar macrobenthos community structure with RKF, while representing a strikingly different structure from SA, we infer that ecological restoration using K. obovata can restore the macrobenthos community to resemble to a normally planted K. obovata forest about 15 years after restoration.

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Effects of a 5-year trawling ban on the local benthic community in a wind farm in the Dutch coastal zone

ICES Journal of Marine Science ◽

10.1093/icesjms/fsu193 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 962-972 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Magda J. N. Bergman ◽

Selma M. Ubels ◽

Gerard C. A. Duineveld ◽

Erik W. G. Meesters

Keyword(s):

Coastal Zone ◽

Benthic Community ◽

Large Scale ◽

Wind Farm ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Benthic Assemblages ◽

The North ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Short Period ◽

Reference Areas

Abstract As part of a large impact study in a wind farm (OWEZ) in the Dutch coastal zone, the effects of exclusion of bottom trawling on the benthic community were studied by comparison with nearby reference areas which were regularly fished. In addition to a standard boxcorer for common macrofauna, a Triple-D dredge was used to collect longer-lived, more sparsely distributed infauna and epifauna. Multivariate analysis did not reveal any difference between the assemblages in and outside OWEZ with respect to abundance, biomass, and production after a 5-year closure. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index pointed to a significantly higher diversity in OWEZ compared with some of the reference areas. A minority of the bivalve species assumed to be sensitive to trawling showed higher abundances (Spisula solida) or larger sizes (Tellina fabula, Ensis directus) in OWEZ than in some of the reference areas. In general, samples collected with the Triple-D showed more differences between areas than boxcore samples. No evidence was also found that the species composition in OWEZ relative to the reference areas had changed in the period between 1 (2007) and 5 (2011) years after closure. The change observed in all areas between 2007 and 2011 was mainly due to relatively small variations in species abundances. In conclusion, 5 years after the closure of OWEZ to fisheries, only subtle changes were measured in the local benthic community, i.e. a higher species diversity and an increased abundance and lengths of some bivalves. Depleted adult stocks, faunal patchiness, and a limited time for recovery (5 years) might explain that a significant recovery could not be found. The current study shows that designation of large-scale marine protected areas as planned for the North Sea will not automatically imply that restoration of benthic assemblages can be expected within a relatively short period of years.

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Sampling a biodiversity hotspot: the orchid-bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of Tarapoto, northeastern Peru, the richest and most diverse site of the Neotropics

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/1519-6984.20412 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 74 (3 suppl 1) ◽

pp. s33-s44 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

A Nemésio ◽

C Rasmussen

Keyword(s):

Diversity Index ◽

Species Group ◽

Biodiversity Hotspot ◽

Single Site ◽

Additional Species ◽

Orchid Bees ◽

Orchid Bee ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

First Time

The orchid-bee fauna of the region of Tarapoto, northeastern Peru, was surveyed using seventeen different scents as baits to attract orchid-bee males. Six hundred and fifty-nine males belonging to 41 species were actively collected with insect nets during 120 hours in late July and early August, 2012. Euglossa dressleriMoure, 1968, Euglossa laurensiBembé, 2008, and Euglossa maculilabrisMoure, 1968, three species belonging to the Euglossa cybelia species-group, are here reported for Peru for the first time. Previous sporadic and unpublished samplings in the area recorded eleven additional species. With 53 species, the region of Tarapoto can be considered the richest single site in the Neotropics for orchid bees. Diversity, estimated with the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H′ = 3.02), was also the highest ever recorded for orchid bees.

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Distance Effects on Diversity and Abundance of the Flower Visitors of Ocimum kilimandscharicum in the Kakamega Forest Ecosystem

International Journal of Biodiversity ◽

10.1155/2018/7635631 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hellen K. Mandela ◽

Mugatsia H. Tsingalia ◽

Mary Gikungu ◽

Wilbur M. Lwande

Keyword(s):

Species Diversity ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Diversity Indices ◽

Forest Edge ◽

Flower Visitors ◽

Kakamega Forest ◽

Species Invasions ◽

Wiener Diversity Index

Pollination is an important ecosystem service in the maintenance of biodiversity and most importantly in food production. Pollination is on the decline due to habitat loss, exotic species invasions, pollution, overharvesting, and land use changes. This study analyzed the abundance and diversity of flower visitors’ of Ocimum kilimandscharicum in Kakamega forest with increasing distance from the forest edge. Data were collected through direct observation and sweep netting. Six study sites were identified along two transects each 2.5 km long and labeled A to F. Distance in metres from the forest edge to each site was A=221, B=72, C=83, D=198, E=113, and F=50. Sampling was done from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, three days in a week for five months consecutively. Diversity indices of different flower visitors were calculated using the Shannon-Wiener diversity index. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare differences between sites and a two-sample t-test was used to identify mean significant differences in species diversity between the closest and the furthest sites. A total of 645 individuals belonging to 35 species were captured from 4 families. The highest diversity was at site F (H’= 2.38) which was closest to the forest edge and the lowest diversity was from site A (H’=1.44) which was furthest from the forest edge. Distance from the forest edge significantly influenced species diversity (F(3, 20)=14.67, p=0.024). Distance from the forest edge also significantly influenced species abundance between the furthest sites A, D, and E and the nearest sites F, B, and C to the forest edge (t=4.177; p=0.0312) and species richness (t=3.2893; p=0.0187). This study clearly demonstrates that Ocimum kilimandscharicum flower visitors play essential roles in pollination and their higher number of visits translates into higher numbers of seeds set. Many of these pollinators are associated with the forest and hence the need to conserve the Kakamega forest as a source pool for pollinators.

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Next Generation Sequencing-Based Molecular Marker Development: A Case Study in Betula Alnoides

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules23112963 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (11) ◽

pp. 2963 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jing Tan ◽

Jun-Jie Guo ◽

Ming-Yu Yin ◽

Huan Wang ◽

Wen-Pan Dong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Next Generation Sequencing ◽

Molecular Marker ◽

Ssr Markers ◽

Southern China ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Next Generation ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Nucleotide Repeats ◽

Betula Alnoides ◽

Generation Sequencing

Betula alnoides is a fast-growing valuable indigenous tree species with multiple uses in the tropical and warm subtropical regions in South-East Asia and southern China. It has been proved to be tetraploid in most parts of its distribution in China. In the present study, next generation sequencing (NGS) technology was applied to develop numerous SSR markers for B. alnoides, and 64,376 contig sequences of 106,452 clean reads containing 164,357 candidate SSR loci were obtained. Among the derived SSR repeats, mono-nucleotide was the main type (77.05%), followed by di- (10.18%), tetra- (6.12%), tri- (3.56%), penta- (2.14%) and hexa-nucleotide (0.95%). The short nucleotide sequence repeats accounted for 90.79%. Among the 291 repeat motifs, AG/CT (46.33%) and AT/AT (44.15%) were the most common di-nucleotide repeats, while AAT/ATT (48.98%) was the most common tri-nucleotide repeats. A total of 2549 primer sets were designed from the identified putative SSR regions of which 900 were randomly selected for evaluation of amplification successfulness and detection of polymorphism if amplified successfully. Three hundred and ten polymorphic markers were obtained through testing with 24 individuals from B. alnoides natural forest in Jingxi County, Guangxi, China. The number of alleles (NA) of each marker ranged from 2 to 19 with a mean of 5.14. The observed (HO) and expected (HE) heterozygosities varied from 0.04 to 1.00 and 0.04 to 0.92 with their means being 0.64 and 0.57, respectively. Shannon-Wiener diversity index (I) ranged from 0.10 to 2.68 with a mean of 1.12. Cross-species transferability was further examined for 96 pairs of SSR primers randomly selected, and it was found that 48.96–84.38% of the primer pairs could successfully amplify each of six related Betula species. The obtained SSR markers can be used to study population genetics and molecular marker assisted breeding, particularly genome-wide association study of these species in the future.

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Factors affecting the species richness and composition of bird species in a community managed forest of Nepal

Journal of Threatened Taxa ◽

10.11609/jott.6945.13.9.19212-19222 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 19212-19222

Author(s):

Bishow Poudel ◽

Bijaya Neupane ◽

Rajeev Joshi ◽

Thakur Silwal ◽

Nirjala Raut ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diversity Index ◽

Bird Species ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Lower Percentage ◽

Bird Diversity ◽

Limited Information ◽

Managed Forest ◽

Point Count ◽

Community Forests ◽

Wiener Diversity Index

There exists limited information on biodiversity including avifaunal diversity and habitat condition in community forests (CF) of Nepal; thus we aimed to fulfill such gaps in Tibrekot CF of Kaski district. We used the point count method for assessing bird diversity and laid out a circular plot size of radius 5-m within 15-m distance from each point count station for recording the biophysical habitat characteristics. Bird species’ diversity, richness and evenness were calculated using popular indexes and General Linear Model (GLM) was used to test the respective effect of various biophysical factors associated with the richness of bird species. In total, 166 (summer 122, winter 125) bird species were recorded in 46 sample plots. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated as 3.99 and 4.09, Margalef’s richness index as 16.84 and 17.53 and Pielou’s evenness index as 0.83 and 0.84 for summer and winter, respectively. The influencing factors for richness of bird species were season (χ21, 90= 112.21; P= 0.016) with higher richness in the summer season and low vegetation cover (χ21, 89= 113.88; P= 0.0064) with higher richness in lower percentage cover. Thus, community managed forest should be protected as it has a significant role in increasing bird diversity, which has potential for attracting avifaunal tourism for the benefit of the local communities.

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Initial terrestrial vertebrate diversity assessment in upland Cavite, Philippines

10.26757/pjsb.2018b12007 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

Keyword(s):

Diversity Index ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Direct Result ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽

Terrestrial Vertebrate ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Diversity Assessment ◽

Animal Diversity

Cavite’s remaining upland forest fragments are either remnant from commercial logging activities ca. 25-45 years ago or as a direct result of land conversions for agriculture or human settlements. These forest fragments are very significant because they represent areas where pockets of wildlife habitat still remain. The terrestrial vertebrates are often used to assess animal diversity because they are ideal biological indicators of environmental change and anthropogenic disturbances. The study aimed to determine terrestrial vertebrate diversity, conservation status, and identify major anthropogenic threats in these fragments. Terrestrial vertebrates were surveyed using a combination of strip-transect sampling, time-constrained searches, visual encounter survey (VES), and acoustic encounter survey (AES; for amphibians only), point counts, live trapping and mist netting from October 2014 to March 2016. Species richness and biodiversity estimation were computed using Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index, linear regression, detection and probability modeling using PAST, and confidence limits for nestedness (0.05α) using EpiTools. A total of 175 terrestrial vertebrates were documented and among the vertebrate groups, the birds had the highest observed diversity. Twenty-nine (19 birds, 3 mammals, 3 lizards, and 4 anurans) species are listed as threatened. Habitat loss and degradation due to the conversion of habitats to agricultural and/or residential areas remained to be the most prevalent threat in the remaining forested areas in upland Cavite. Baseline data generated shall be used in the different government biodiversity monitoring activities as the basis for impacts and mitigation and initial planning for the management and conservation of these remaining forest patches.

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