Herpetological Assemblages in Tropical Forests of the Taguibo Watershed, Butuan City, Eastern Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract

Tropical watershed ecosystems support heterogeneous habitats and diverse non-human species assemblages, together providing ecosystem services to humans. Amphibians and reptiles are recognized as sensitive indicators of ecosystem “health,” related to beneficial services (provisional, regulating, cultural, structural, functional) human societies receive from terrestrial watersheds. The Taguibo Watershed supplies fresh drinking water to Butuan City in the Caraga Region of northeast Mindanao Island. However, very little is known about the herpetofauna of the area. Here, we synthesize biodiversity data from historical (1971, 1979) and recent (2013, 2017) herpetological surveys from the region. We utilize specimen-associated occurrence records and natural history information to produce a species inventory, analyze their habitat utilization, and characterize diversity metrics to describe herpetological communities of the watershed – resulting in 44 species (27 new records). A number of historically-documented species persist, having partitioned riparian and terrestrial habitat types in dipterocarp and secondary-growth forests of Taguibo. Reptiles exhibit little overlap in the use of microhabitats – in contrast to amphibians, which exhibit either unique or frequently shared microhabitat substrates. In terrestrial microhabitats (not immediately associated with water), many newly-recorded reptiles and amphibians (particularly, of the genus Platymantis) partition space predictably – either occupying a single microhabitat or, in one species (a pit viper, Tropidolaemus subannulatus), two microhabitats. We anticipate that our initial characterization of Taguibo’s herpetofauna may serve as a baseline to promote further research and facilitate conservation initiatives. We emphasize the importance of primary sources – field-based surveys and re-surveys – and open-access biodiversity data served via online platforms that provide live, transparent access to original, unaltered data. Anthropogenic threats involving economic-driven activities present a need for field-based research in support of watershed management. Periodic, survey, and re-survey studies – continuously updating earlier work – are the most reliable, repeatable, and publicly-transparent use of biodiversity survey data in support of societal benefits and ecosystem services.

Richness and distribution of reptiles and amphibians in the tropical lowland habitats of Mt. Agad-Agad, Iligan City, Southern Philippines

“…Comparatively, species richness on Mt. Agad-Agad is slightly similar to the recent ecological and herpetological assemblage study in Taguibo Watershed of northeastern Mindanao which identified 44 herpetofaunal species (Sanguila et al 2020). Both habitat types support a high number and diverse community of amphibians and reptiles on Mt.…”

Rapid assessment of anurans of Panigan-Tamugan watershed, Davao City, Mindanao Island, Philippines

“…The species richness of anurans recorded in this study was lower compared to previous reports in other watersheds: 17 from Talomo-Lipadas (Ibañez et al, 2012) and 20 from Taguibo (Sanguila et al, 2020). Although the species richness of anurans in this study was low compared with those accounted from the Journal of Animal Diversity (2022) | © Lorestan University Press Talomo-Lipadas watershed, additional records of Fejervarya vittigera (Wiegmann, 1834), O. laevis, Pelophryne brevipes (Peters, 1867), and Philautus worcesteri (Stejneger, 1905) were added to the current list of species known from watershed areas of Davao City.…”

“…The presence of the Near Threatened species Limnonectes magnus (Stejneger, 1910) in this study was also accounted by the previous anuran inventories in Mindanao watersheds (Solania and Fernandez-Gamalinda, 2018;Sanguila et al, 2020;Salo and Solania, 2022). This amplifies the value of watersheds as important habitats for endemic anurans.…”

“…The high number of endemic species from the forested sites (8 out of 11) parallels the previous report of Nuñeza et al (2010) in that endemic species are more frequently encountered in the forested habitats. Observations including those of this study, also magnify accounts of high anuran endemism in the Mindanao watersheds (Solania and Fernandez-Gamalinda, 2018;Sanguila et al, 2020;Salo and Solania, 2022).…”