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Panay Eco-Social Conservation Project (PanayCon) Eighteenth Annual Report January 2015 E. Curio (ed.) PanayCon, Pandan Public Library, Pandan, Antique, Philippines P.B. Box 42, Kalibo, Aklan 5600, Philippines [email protected] Under the umbrella of the NGO PhilinCon In close cooperation with Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Philippines) University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City (Philippines) Frankfurt Zoological Society (Germany) Erwin-Warth-Stiftung (Germany) Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany) 2 Frontispiece (overleaf): Front of our new T-shirt printed in 2015 Texts in English, Tagalog (Filipino) and Kinaray-a (local language spoken in Antique Province, Panay) From top to bottom: From left to right: Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). - Dulangan [Writhed-billed Hornbill] (Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni, syn. Aceros waldeni) male. – The Philippine Archipelago. Boy with Salakot. Spotted Deer (Rusa alfredi) male. – Banaue rice terraces. – Bayanihan spirit. Rafflesia lobata, one of nine Philippine endemics. – Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Opposite: Back of T-shirt From the living to the dead - extinction is for ever Artwork by Helga S c h u l z e (Bochum); production of the t-shirt as a kind donation by Claus S u d h o f f (Manila). Impressum: The eighteenth Report of PanayCon builds on contributions from Curio, Eberhard Dioso, Leocadio F. Ebon Jr., Armelito Faustino, Guillermo Kühn-van Geldern, Rabea Sanchez Jr., Enrique Santillan, Rhea Schwarz, Christian J. and was edited by E. Curio © PanayCon: no part of this report must be used without the written permission of the PanayCon Mangement or the BOD of PhilinCon. Pandan and Bochum, January 2016 3 4 Acknowledgments The PanayCon (earlier PESCP) received funding in 2015 Thanks to the sponsors under the umbrella of the NGO PhilinCon - CAPE Foundation, President Macrina P. Lovina, Makati, Manila, Philippines Prof. Dr. E. Curio, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany Dr. Claudia Distler, Associate Professor, Owl Association Society, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany - Mr. Antonio de Dios, President and General Manager of Transport Equipment Corporation, Quezon City, Philippines - Mr. Jean-Michel Dujuypoo, Jardine Zoologique Tropical, La Londe-les-Maures, France Erwin-Warth-Stiftung, President Hilde Stühlinger, Stuttgart, Germany Frankfurt Zoological Society, Frankfurt, Germany Mr. Georg Gewers, Architect, GPAI, GmbH Berlin, Berlin, Germany Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Abu Dhabi, United Arabian Emirates Mrs. Helga Schulze, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany Vogelschutz-Komitee (Bird Protection Comitee), President Prof. Dr. E. Schneider, Göttingen, Niedersachsen, and Linum, Mark Brandenburg, Germany In kind: - Prof. Dr. Ursula Henke, Evangelische Fachhochschule, Bochum, Germany - IDEXX Laboratories, Branch Germany, Ludwigsburg - Leocadio F. Dioso, Director of the Leocadio Alonsagay Dioso Memorial Public Library, Pandan, Antique, Philippines - Richard Perron, Manager of Quantum Conversation, Oldenburg, Germany - Dr. Jochen Reiter, Zoo Duisburg, Duisburg, Germany - Helga Schulze, M.Sc., who is with Ruhr-University Bochum and Quantum Conservation, gave freely of her priceless skills and time in designing and/or perfecting the graphic presentation of PanayCon publications and reports 5 Eighteenth Report 2015 An Update and Thorough Revision of the ‘Seventeenth Report 2014’ Title of Project and Time Period: Panay Eco-Social Conservation Project (PanayCon). The time period covers the year 2015. The project’s work is formalised under the aegis of a Memorandum of Agreement between the DENR and Ruhr-University Bochum, renewed in 2012. A collecting permit, covering collecting (plants, ectoparasites), and potential prey of the Marine Toad or Cane Toad (Rhinella [Bufo] marinus), locally known also as ‘Hawaiian Frog’, is in the making. An a dement with opportunistically obtained specimens (e.g. road kills) that represent new species or a new distributional record in the pipeline. - Links with many environmentally concerned agencies/ institutions are continuing to thrive and many others are developing: Erwin-WarthStiftung, President Hilde Stühlinger, and the CAPE Foundation, President Macrina P. Lovina, absolutely vital for the project; the CAPE Foundation is aiming at costal development including the instruction of fisher men and the conservation of marine wildlife. Furthermore, the Foundation is no perspicacious of sponsoring six Forest Rangers that had educated as WEOs (Wildlife Environmental Officers). Their delicate Jobs recall for arming them and necogenations are underway mitigate their oftentimes risky situations. - And further befriended supporter of the project is Leocadio F. Dioso. He hosts us by providing office space in the Leocadio Alonsagay Dioso Memorial Public Library, Pandan, Antique, Philippines. Furthermore, talks has been finalized with the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, alongside Los Baños by hiring Prof. Dr. E. Curio as Visiting Professor to lecture, give seminars and supervising of Philippine Bachelor and Masters Students. In the 15th report the plans of the filinalisation of the project were detailed, i. e. the stepping down on foreign personal to give way to key personal being Filipinos. The plans receive a heavy blow when the management, including a German, found to for responsible for embezzlement of funds. The ensuing chaos made three quarters of the staff jobless while the segment of the reha and research facilities (8 people) by funds regenerated by Prof. Curio could be remained until now. The case against is worn-doers to come to ends preliminarily. The FZS recover almost completely its budget, had fired to the management staff under the suspicion of embezzlement of their fund. – The project was victimized by two members of the staff, incidence occurring at the station and the other serviced receiving during ascent to the station. The theft concerned money. The victims were Ms. Santillan, our bookkeeper, and the other incidence was theft sustained by Prof. Curio. In the latter case, the suspect admitted in the theft during in a meeting in the brgy. hall of Bulanao, but failed to return the money and disappeared in the day which he was supposed to bring back the stolen money. The management is determined to follow up and retrieve the money by all legal means. In the wake of this upheaval consultations led to an organization of staff as a result of which emerged PhilinCon with the project PanayCon. In 2014, a new manager was hired leading a new organizational structure (App. 1). The Station ‘Sibaliw’ saw many visitors as usual (App. 2). For the first time members of the University of the Philippines, led by Prof. Dr. M. Amante, were welcome by station staff. A venue hammered out details for Prof. Curio joining the staff at Campus Diliman as Visiting Professor. 6 Sad to say, BioCon, an NGO and an earlier outgrowth of PESCP (now PanayCon), failed all along with its mandate of strengthening PESCP financially since its establishment 14 years ago. Accordingly the founding of a new NGO PhilConserve by concerned citizens in 2005 laid the ground for fostering the hope for effective biodiversity conservation in Panay; preparations toward fund-raising have been promoted by members of the BOD. To advance on within-country support by non-governmental bodies born out through an on-going correspondence with the BOD of BioCon, now in always entering in 14th year, so a far without success. In the course of the ensuing correspondence latter of Prof. Curio never got an answer the president of BioCon. PanayCon gratefully acknowledges again the factual and moral support received from the LGU of Pandan. I take this opportunity to extend my deep-felt gratitude to Hon. Jonathan D. Tan, Municipal Mayor of Pandan, and the Head of the Pandan Department of Agriculture, Mr. Ronald S. Sanchez, for their great understanding and perspicacity of giving leeway to their staff in assisting PanayCon tremendously in its zeal of pushing its and the municipality’s environment agenda. Accordingly I am pleased to mention the assistance of Mr. Arnold Demegillo, Pandan’s MENRO and Agricultural Technologist, who took pains in advising PanayCon in community liaison matters facilitating various technical problems. Mr. Demegillo was promoted Head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office. As before, Prof. Dr. E. Schneider, President of the German ‘Bird Protection Commitee‘ (Göttingen, Linum), was circumspectly funding our ex situ work focused on the rehabilitation and release of wildlife, specially endangered birds. Likewise, Mr. Antonio de Dios, President and General Manager of Birds International, Inc., and of Transport Equipment Corporation, and Mr. Georg Gewers, a Berlin architect, long term supporters of the project, donated funds usual. However, among the European supporters diversion of funds going to the vast numbers of refugees come from Near East and the Balkans were noticeable in the past year. This competition, based one-sided in charity thinking, give the project a hard time. To all these people and institutions we are deeply grateful and hope that they will support the cause of both PanayCon and its umbrella NGO PhilinCon also in the future. Editorial The Philippines is hit hard by typhoons that increase in frequency and strength. There are on average 20 typhoons every year, of which almost half make landfalls. These typhoons reach wind speeds of 315 kph, spawning mega-storms like the 2013 typhoon ‘Yolanda’ (international name: Haiyan). The damages are piling up, and yet, no governmental, comprehensive force has been put in place to stem these natural calamities. Did I say ‘natural’? The incidence and strength are natural, leaving aside climate change as a crucial determinant of those properties; however, the severity of each single typhoon is man-made and is the primary cause of typhoons making landfall. The severity can be measured as well: typhoon ‘Lando’ (international name: Koppu), the latest, and according to a 68-year-old witness, the strongest one, is telling. It ravaged Central and Northern Luzon, causing, according to governmental estimates, damages amounting to PHP 9 billion (Euros 176 million), mostly affecting agricultural lands and products. Also affected were 1.2 million persons, and the widespread flooding destroyed 7 homes and roads. Even as far away as Manila, classes had to be suspended and flights cancelled. Among the most affected were the rice farms of Nueva Ecija, a situation which, according to forecasts by the NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority), will triple the usual amount of rice that the country needs to import to cover nationwide needs. The rural population has been hit hardest. The extent of the damage to the vegetable and rice fields, among other effects, have made the poorest segment of the population even poorer. Already unable in the past to build decent homes, this group is now faced with a worse situation: The demand for construction timber will increase and so will illegal logging. This then is a two-pronged vicious circle: a need to generate timber for scale and construction reduces the remaining forest cover need to stem flash-floods, causing the strength of the typhoons to be man-made. This is one of the factors driving the calamity. Illegal logging is the other driver. It plays in the hands of corruption in the lower ranks of bureaucracy and it causes the loggers to become criminals, since the nature of logging is illegal. The ‘natural’ disasters are man-made, due to the increasing denudation of the forests. If the government wishes to address the country’s poverty problem, disasters will continue to cause casualties and damages to property and preparing for typhoons will shrink to a minimum. With an increase in the severity of typhoons, prospects are adverse for a program preparing the country to more ‘natural’ disasters to come. The severity of typhoons is certainly a consequence of climate change, but, also certainly, part of the problem is man-made and – almost – avoidable through proper law-enforcement. (Source, in part, ‘Philippine Daily Inquirer’.) 8 Eighteenth Annual Report 2015. An Update and thorough Revision of the ‘Seventeenth Report 2014’……………………………………….. 5 Editorial .................................................................................................................... 6 Executive Summary .................................................................................................9 1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 Conservation, Education, Rehabilitation ................................................. 11 Manager’s Report ......................................................................................... 11 Law enforcement report ................................................................................ 13 Animals under the care of PhilinCon in January 2014…………………… 26 2. 2.1 Conservation Research: Taxonomy and Biodiversity………………… 32 Gambaquezonia curioi – a new species of Gambaquezonia for the Phlippine island Panay (Araneae: Salticidae) .............................................. 32 The praying mantids of Panay – an annotated checklist………………….. 32 2.2 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 Behavioural Ecology…………………………..........................................40 Ecology of a Bark Mantis (Haania sp., Mantodea)……………………….40 Eucharitid ant-parasitiod affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis: top-down effects through three trophic levels……………………………. 45 Flight styles in some passerines…………………………………………...45 Appendices 1- 5: Overview………………………………………………………46 9 Executive Summary Conservation and Rehabilitation 1.1 Manager’s Report – Law Enforcement The law enforcement portion of PhilinCon’s activities mainly involves the work and accomplishments of our team of Forest Rangers (FRs). In recognition of their effectiveness, they have been officially deputized as WEOs (Wildlife Enforcement Officers) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Among their standard functions, our FRs carry out regular patrols of the forest areas of Libertad, Pandan and Sebaste in Antique and the municipality of Buruanga in Aklan province. During 2014(?), their work resulted, in 13 separate occasions, in the confiscation of more than 135 pieces of logs that had been cut illegally. These were subsequently turned over to the PNP/ DENR. The FRs’ monitoring activities also resulted in the discovery of a poachers’ camp in the Sibaliw area (near PhilinCon’s field station), from which CAMP our FRs were able to confiscate various paraphernalia used by the poachers.. These people belonged to a wellorganized and heavily armed group from Nabas and Cubai. They were known to hunt for Warty Pigs, monkeys, hornbills and pigeons for food and for sale to the souvenir tradesmen in Boracay. Sadly, the arrests and material confiscations that have been effected by PhilinCon and its FRs have not led to the illegal loggers, hunters and poachers being brought to justice in a court of law. Despite this fact, however, PhilinCon will continue its activities for the essential protection and conservation of our forests and its wildlife inhabitants 1.2 Animals under the Care of PhilinCon in 2014 Both species of hornbills (Aceros [further on called this way instead of the modern name Rhabdotorrhinus], Penolopides), various raptors, a Grass Owl and a Hawksbill Turtle (Dermochelys imbricata) were rehabilitated and released upon proper health checks by our veterinarian Dr. Enrique Sanchez. The rescue facilities from the animals came from in those in Mag-aba, Bulanao and Station ‘Sibalew’. The Table 1 gives the details of the species, sex, ring no. of applicable and the circumstances of the recovery and the release. Animals classified as ‘unsuitable for release’ are sent to the PAWD DENR Region 6 in Iloilo City. 2. Conservation Research: Taxonomy and Biodiversity 2.1 Gambaquezonia curioi – a new Species of Gambaquezonia from the Philippine Island Panay (Araneae: Salticidae) A jumping spider of the genus Gambaquezonia has been considered monotypic and endemic to the Philippine Island of Luzon. A new species has been described from Panay, based on genital characters of a male and female specimen. The species, Gambaquezonia curioi, is 10 distinguished by the male copulatory organ (embolus) and the female sperm receiving opening (epigynal sperm duct). The find highlights the need to further study of the Philippine spider fauna. 2.2 The praying mantids of Panay – an annotated checklist Praying mantids (Mantodea) are an insect order which is largely understudied in the Philippines. The ~2,500 described species are thermophilous and strictly solitary predators distributed mainly in the tropics. They exhibit a variety of lifestyles and morphological ecotypes. No records from Panay are known so far. Therefore, from 2010 to 2015 the mantodean fauna of Panay has been repeatedly sampled via manual search, light and pitfall trapping. Seventeen species representing seven phylogenetic units (families) have been found, at least five of which are new to science. The majority (11 species) is confined to forests, and contains mostly endemic and subendemic taxa, while six species widespread in the Philippines and SE Asia prefer open habitats. The impoverished mantodean fauna of Panay is discussed with reference to the paleogeography of the island. 3. Behavioural Ecology 3.1 Ecology of the Bark Mantis (Haania sp., Mantodea) The SE Asian genus Haania contains morphologically highly specialized praying mantids living on mossy tree bark. Two undescribed species occur on Panay, the more abundant of which was studied from February to March at Sibaliw station. Habitat requirements comprise trees of at least 32 cm circumference, hit by the sun and with a moss cover of ~81%. Adults preferred lower parts of a tree than did nymphs. 91% of nymphs and 84% of adults assumed the geotropic position. Specimens usually rested on the lee side of the tree and outside of direct sunlight, and at minimum distances of 14 cm (adults) and 5 cm (nymphs) of keeping inside an inhabited patch of moss. Haania is a typical ambush species, spending 67% (adults) vs. 96.7% (nymphs) of the time motionless. Territoriality is weakly expressed in nymphs, but becomes more pronounced when specimens approach maturity. Ten translocation trials have been performed, all of which revealed the resident mantid to be dominant over the intruder, even involving cases of cannibalism. The obtained results are discussed with reference to other mantodean taxa. 3.2 Eucharitid Ant-parasitoid Effects facultative Ant-plant Leea manilllensis: top-down Effects through three trophic Levels Facultative ant-plant mutualisms could often hard to detect, especially in tropical ecosystems. Leea manillensis in Panay is indirectly protected against damage by the production of extrafloral nectaries that attract ants. Unexpectedly an ant-parasitoid wasp (Chalcura sp., Eucharitidae) exerts a strong effect on the system, both on the plants and on the ants well. The parasitoid altered the behaviour of the interacting ant-species, but also directly and indirectly affected the plants’ fitness. The study gives an example of how top-down effects alter species interactions and can have a massive effect on mutualisms and their beneficial outcome. 11 3.3 Flight Styles in some Passerines Semi-quantitative observations on bounding flight and steady (flapping) flight are performed in two forest-dwelling passerines (Philippine Bulbul Hypsipetes philippinus, Great Tit Parus major) in free flight. A long-standing hypothesis predicts bounding flight to preserve energy. A crucial role in the respect is played for the bounding flight – speed relationship. In is controversial whether a U-shaped bounding flight – energy expenditure curve best describes the relationship. The monotony of a new relationship reflecting bounding flight to speed argues for a flattened speed to J-shape energy expenditure as compared to a U-shape curve. Whether bounding flight is saving energy as proposed would depend of the kinematics of flight in free-flying such species such as the Bulbul and the Tit. - Further observations tentatively assign a training role for ‘mock’ prey capture and ‘group acrobatics’ of the Bulbul serving prey capture and predator evasion, respectively. 1. Conservation, Education, Rehabilitation 1.1 Manager’s Report by Christian J. Schwarz, MSc., Project Manager The most pressing problem I had to deal with when I took over this position in July 2014 was the lack of proper funding. When compared to our activities in the financially stable years 2000 to 2009, this shortage of funds had a negative impact on conservation efforts on Panay in particular, and the Philippines in general. In fact, our activities are now restricted to wildlife rehabilitation, forest monitoring, and scientific research, all of them basically restricted to the Northwest Panay Peninsula and some portions of southern Pandan. PanayCon had to pull out completely from the Central Panay Mountain Range, including the Dulungan or Writhed-Billed Hornbill (Aceros waldeni, recently reassigned to the genus Rhabdotorrhinus) nest-guarding scheme. Since 2009, poaching of nestlings of this species, as well as of other birds, snaring of Warty Pigs, and illegal logging have increased substantially in both areas, as discovered by our forest rangers, and experienced by myself during three years of research on the NWPP. Conservation in the NWPP Natural Park is now basically a matter of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), headed by the Regional Executive Director of the DENR, but mainly under the supervision of Protected Area Superintendent Rhodel Lababit. The PAMB decides over long-term activities in the Protected Area; this concerns PanayCon’s scientific and conservation research as well as large-scale, more or less sustainable “development” projects, like mining activities or wind turbines. The declaration of the NWPP as a PA under the NIPAS act in 2005 has still not passed the Congress. However, this delay allowed for adjustment of the initial, very coarse boundary of the PA to include additional areas of good forest. The area of the PA now encompasses 13.000 ha. The true extent of forest is unknown, but probably exceeds 6.000 ha. Despite this success, the PAMB is mainly a decision-making organ. It is not properly equipped or funded to actually implement conservation activities. Therefore, forest monitoring still largely relies on a core team of six Philincon FRs. These FRs are funded by our partner, CAPE Foundation, headed by Macrina P. Lovina (Makati, Manila). Without CAPE’s support, no forest monitoring activities whatsoever would be conducted on the NWPP. 12 Illegal logging is well-organized now: the operators are usually armed, use silencers on their chainsaws, and informants at strategic points warn them when FR or PNP activities are detected. This makes it extremely difficult (and dangerous) for our small team to effectively intercept logging or hauling activities. Nevertheless, we can account for several successful apprehensions of illegally cut lumber (see below). Animal poaching is much more difficult to stop. Finding unreported snares is basically a matter of chance, and poachers using guns are mobile and difficult to corner. Besides, local people are much more willing to report timber than animal poaching. Poachers also roam in the environs of Sibaliw station, as evidenced by discoveries of snares, animal remains, sheds, and other indications of the poachers being active in the area. We have always duly reported such discoveries to the DENR. Towards the end of 2014, our rangers have also found evidence of an organized team of around 6-8 poachers, mainly from Cubai and Nabas, carrying firearms and snare equipment, and hunting for Tarictic Hornbills, monkeys, and Warty Pigs. While warty pigs are usually hunted for meat, their tusks as well as the monkey skulls and the Tarictic beaks and legs are sold to unknown buyers in Boracay. There, they are converted into souvenirs and sold to unknowing tourists. On the positive side, we are receiving an increasing amount of information on stranded sea turtles and their nests, and in 2014 were able to release two adults in the process. Several nests, some of them already successfully hatched, have also been found. This shows that past awareness campaigns conducted by the DENR, the CAPE foundation, and us, have proved useful. There is no reason to tap our shoulders though, since we still get to know of turtles which have been illegally slaughtered by Pandan and Libertad fishermen.The number of donated or confiscated Dulungans rose from zero between 2004 and 2011 (during the nest-guarding scheme) to four since 2012, indicating increased poaching Confiscated male Dulungan in the Mag-aba facility pressure on this critically endangered hornbill species. Our nest-guarding scheme proved very successful, both in terms of providing data that allowed an estimate of the population size on Panay, as well as protecting this population. However, it was also criticized as “unsustainable” by a development program evaluator. Such comments bypass biological reality: development programs have to be sustainable; conservation programs do not! Their success is only measured in terms of survival of the targeted species. This example shows how much damage to conservation can be done by recommendations of biologically untrained professionals in highly influential positions. When I returned to the Philippines in July 2014, most damages caused by supertyphoon Yolanda in November 2013 had already been fixed. However, Sibaliw station, including its solar power system, still required some attention. The humid climate takes its toll on technical equipment. Major repairs have been scheduled to take place in 2015, and the logistics and paper work imposed by this task have been discussed and planned towards the end of 2014. 13 It also became evident, even during my previous stays, that the food catering arrangements for the station and the organization of porterages had suffered from increasing inefficiency over the years, both in terms of money wasted and of quality of the food supplies purchased. My first duty over the course of the next weeks was to increase efficiency and lessen unnecessary wastage by re-organizing the Sibaliw food supply system. Weekly supplies are now controlled by PhilinCon office staff, basically consisting of Ms. Rhea Santillan and myself. The new measures have already proved successful, but leaves still room for further improvements. Before closing, I would like to acknowledge the continued generosity of our supporters. Mr. Antonio de Dios, Manila, donated a significant amount to Philincon, as in the years before. This is also true for Macrina P. Lovina, CAPE foundation, who sponsored our FR team. David Wynne and family, Alexandria VA, USA, visited our project and repeatedly donated valuable materials. A major donation by Hilde Stühlinger, Erwin Warth-Stiftung, Stuttgart, financed the project manager position. Without such support, our work would not be possible. The following months have been devoted to project proposals and further fund-raising. Several ideas were discussed in the Philincon Board Meeting on October 15. Obtaining release permits for three of our Dulungans and some raptors, and the renovation of the station are also on the agenda. There is no rest in conservation. 1.2 Law enforcement Report by E. Sanchez Jr., C. J. Schwarz, R. Santillan, A. Ebon, and F. Guillermo Introduction The implementation of “law enforcement activity” is one of the main sub-projects of PhilinCon, administered by its operational arm PanayCon. The sub-project workers are otherwise known as “Bantay Gubat” or Forest Rangers/Guards. To legalize the operations undertaken by our forest rangers against the illegal activities destroying our forests, the rangers are duly deputized as WEO (Wildlife Enforcement Officer) by the office of the DENR Region 6. The WEO is renewed every year, and valid in the municipalities of Libertad, Pandan, and Sebaste. In contrast to adequately funded WEOs in previous years, our FR team currently comprises only six full-time rangers. Additional rangers may join the team on a daily basis, if necessary. Despite being a small team and allotted with limited allowances, our FRs account for several successful apprehensions outlined below. Background In the year 2001 the first and at the time only forest guard was hired to act as a so-called “forest monitor”. When his efforts were recognized as a success, forest monitoring was added as one of the top priorities among the project’s objectives, in order to help our conservation partner, the DENR, to protect the last lowland forest of the North West Panay Peninsula. The number of FRs was later increased to 18. Due to their profound knowledge, we hired former hunters, timber poachers and other people previously engaged in other illegal activities harming our precious forests in the NWPP and the CPMR. By acting as Forest Rangers, they could receive an income and bring in their experience without negatively affecting the forest. 14 Unfortunately, in the last quarter of 2009, almost all rangers lost their jobs due to mismanagement by previous project members, eventually leading to the pull-out of a major sponsor. Despite receiving no payment, our FRs continued to undertake operations on a voluntary basis. Achievements 2014 Last year, our rangers had 48 operations, undertaken in the municipalities of Pandan, Sebaste and Libertad (Antique), and Buruanga (Aklan), respectively. Illegal logging and poaching were documented 13 times. On nine instances, a total of over 135 (!) pieces or logs of illegally cut trees could be apprehended and turned over to the PNP/DENR. Notable is the canter stopped with the help of the PNP on June 8 at Centro Norte, Pandan, loaded with 66 pieces of illegally cut Laua-an and Libtog timber. A matter of great concern are also the paraphernalia confiscated at a poacher camp close to Sibaliw station. They belonged to a well organized and heavily armed group of six to eight poachers from Nabas, Aklan and Cubai, Libertad, who are regularly hunting warty pigs, monkeys and hornbills for supplying the souvenir trade in Boracay. 15 Table 1. Forest and wildlife monitoring successes: Upper row: turtle nest monitoring at San Andres in December 2014. Middle left: illegally cut timber apprehended in February 2013. Middle right to lower right: Poacher camp in the NWPPNP. Middle right: cooking place. Lower left: snaring equipment. Lower right: shotgun ammo and feathers of poached tarictic hornbill. 16 Forest ranger activities in the year 2014. DATE AND TIME LOCATION ACTIVITY FOREST RANGERS /WEOs INVOLVED Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Ibanez, Cerwin Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven January 04, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Antique Foot patrolling /monitoring January 06, 2014 1:00 P.M. Brgy Talisay, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Confiscation/ Apprehension January 08, 2014 8:00 A.M. Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Confiscation Apprehension Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino 10:00 A.M. PhilinCon Office L.A. Dioso Public Library Bldg. Brgy. Baybay, Pandan, Antique Orientation on Wildlife Enforcement Officers January 16, 2014 9:00 A.M. Brgy. San Andres, Pandan Antique, Follow-up monitoring January 21-22, 2014 7:00 A.M. Sibaliw Research Station NWPP Foot patrol Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Fernandez, Freddie Dujali, Joven Santillan, Rhea Domingo, Rudy Manga, Joeman Ibanez, Cerwin Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven REMARKS The team did not find any signs of illegal activities during an overnight operation After a close monitoring, 5 pieces of Dao timber with the dimensions of 2x4x16 were successfully confiscated by the PNP Pandan, headed by Chief PI Jose Partisala. After a follow-up monitoring together with PNP Pandan, headed by SPO1 Ranchez Barsubia and company, the team found Narra trees that had been logged illegally: 1 pc. timber 16x20x7 1 pc. log 26x30x7 1 pc. log 24x28x7 WEOs IDs were given to PhilinCon WEO staff by DENR personnel in the persons of For. Amadona Rana and Ms. Selma Joy Barcival. The team confirmed that the logged Narra were still there. The team did not find any signs of illegal activities, despite previously received 17 Domingo, Rudy February 13-14, 2014 6:00 P.M. Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Dujali,Joven February 26, 2014 6:00 P.M. Brgy. Nauring, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr, Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven, Domingo, Rudy March 7-9, 2014 8:00 A.M. Brgy. Maramig to Sibaliw Research Statiion (NWPP-PA) Conduct survey on the uprooted/ damaged trees caused by typhoon Yolanda Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domino, Rudy Mangga, Joeman March 11, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Nauring, Pandan, Antique Foot patrolling/ monitoring Follow-up Monitoring March 14, 2014 6:30 P.M. Mt. Muntili, Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Patrolling, Monitoring Confiscation Ebon, Armelito Jr. Faustino, Guillermo Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie reports about illegal hunters. During an overnight monitoring, the team found an Ughayan tree that had been cut down and sliced into timber. The timber had already been delivered. Despite received reports on an illegal boat hull made of a Mugni tree, during an overnight monitoring the team could not confirm the delivery of the boat hull. The team found and listed different species of uprooted trees caused by Yolanda: 3 Red Laua-an, 2 Malaboyo, 1 Baid, 1 Natu, and 2 Malakbakan After a whole night of monitoring, the team did not find any Mugni boat hull, despite a previously received report from a concerned citizen. Instead, together with PNP Pandan, the team saw a tricycle with a temporary plate No. 064409, owned by Mr. Roque Carino of Brgy. Fragante, loaded with timber to be delivered to a certain Mr. Hernani Baraca of Brgy. Nauring. 2 pieces of Narra timbers with the dimensions of 2x8x7 were found by the team together with the PNP Pandan along the road 18 March 15, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Nauring, Pandan, Antique Patrolling Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose April 5-6, 2014 7:00 P.M. Sitio Tabay, Brgy. Patria, Pandan, Antique Foot patrolling monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose April 7-8, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Foot Patrolling Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie April 14-15, 2014 8:00 P.M. Northwest Panay Peninsula (Sibaliw Research Station) Foot patrolling Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie Dujali, Joven to Mt. Muntili. The retrieved timbers were brought to the PNP station for proper custody. Despite received reports from an informant about a boat hull made of Mugni being about to be delivered from Brgy. Fragante, passing Pukatod River, down to Nauring River, the team did not find this reported hull during a whole night of monitoring. So, a follow-up monitoring will be conducted. Despite previously received reports about Laua-an timber to be delivered from Mt. Bantulinao, Sitio San Juan, Brgy. San Roque, after two nights of operation the team did not find any traces of illegally cut timber. Because of a report from a concerned citizen about Narra timber to be delivered from Mt. Montili (between the Boundary of Brgy. Duyong and Brgy. Tingib), the team conducted an overnight monitoring but did not find any signs of illegal activities. On the first day of monitoring the team camped overnight at Mt. Jubo and Mt. Tabyaka. During an overnight foot patrolling no signs of illegal activities could 19 April 30, 2014 10:00 A.M. Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven June 08-09, 2014 6:00 P.M. Sitio Calabanog, Brgy. Idiacacan to Brgy. Nauhon, Sebaste, Antique Monitoring Apprehension Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Frenandez, Freddie June 12-14, 2014 8:00 P.M. Northwest Panay Peninsula Protected Area Monitoring Foot patrol Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Fernandez, Freddie Domingo, Rudy be detected. On the second day the team passed by the Station and went down to Bulanao together with Prof. Eberhard Curio. Monitoring was conducted after information was received from an informant through PNP Chief of Police, Jose Partisala. However, the team found out that mahogany had been cut instead of the reported Narra tree. A white elf canter with plate No. POD 845 loaded with 66 fletches of both Laua-an and Libtog timber was apprehended at Centro Norte, Pandan, Antique, through the help of the PNP Pandan, headed by their Officer-in-Charge, PI Bryan Alamo. It turned out that the drivers had been Mr. Bernie Elegino y Agravante and Mr. Bien Berte y Lomugdang, both residents of Idio, Sebaste. The owner of the timber was Mr. Oliver Berte y Lomugdang. The team heard a gun fired at Mt. Liktinon, and heard it again on the following day. While searching the area where the gun had been fired, the team saw 2 hunters with a home-made shotgun and a 22 caliber handgun. These two 20 June 15, 2014 7:30 P.M. Brgy. Tingib to Brgy. Patria, Pandan, Antique Foot Patrolling/ Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Fernandez, Freddie July 12-13, 2014 8:00 A.M. Brgy. Barusbus to Brgy. Inyawan, Libertad, Pandan, Atique Foot Patrol Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie July 19, 2014 7:00 A.M. Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Fernandez, Freddie Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy July 19, 2014 7:30 P.M. Brgy. Duyong, Pandan, Antique Foot patrolling Follow-up Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Fernandez, Freddie Dujali, Joven hunters were seen going back to their area at Sitio San Juan, Brgy. San Roque, Libertad, Antique. Because of previously received reports from a concerned citizen that Narra timber was to be delivered in Brgy. Patria, the team coordinated with Brgy. Capt. Hon. Carlito Garzon of Brgy.Tingib, in order to stay at his area, since it was a possible pathway of the Narra delivery. However, the team found nothing after follow-up monitoring. Despite of received reports about timber to be delivered, during an overnight monitoring the team did not find any signs of illegal activities. Despite received reports through a phone call about ongoing cutting of Gmelina trees within a timberland area (DUPA Site), the following monitoring did not produce any Gmelina timber, nor had a chainsaw been heard operating. Follow-up monitoring/Foot patrolling was conducted. The team found only 2 pieces of 2x8x8 Gmelina timber left of the 500 board feet of Gmelina timber that had already been 21 July 19, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Dumrog, Pandan, Antique Foot patrol monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Fernandez, Freddie Matinong, Jose August 02-03, 2014 6:00 A.M. Brgy. Fragante to Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Atique Foot Patrol Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie August 06, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Sto. Rosario, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie August 6, 2014 9:00 A.M. Brgy. Zaldivar, Pandan, Antique Rescue and release of a hawksbill turtle Dr. Sanchez, Enrique D. Jr. delivered. It was owned by DUPA Chairman Mr. Rhodel Lamigas. Based on our investigation, Mr. Demetrio Francisco of Brgy. Tingib had been the chainsaw operator. It could be confirmed that it had not been the first time of illegal cutting of trees at the DUPA site. Despite received reports from a concerned citizen on Laua-an timber, the team did not find any signs of illegal activities during an overnight patrol. Despite information received from a concerned citizen regarding some illegally sliced Narra timber to be delivered, the team did not find any sightings of illegal activities after two nights of monitoring/ patrolling. Despite of reports from a concerned citizen about sliced Mugis timber in various dimensions about to be delivered, the team did not find any sightings of illegal activities after a whole night of monitoring/patrolling. On August 6, 2014, a hawksbill turtle was captured by fishermen from Brgy. Zaldivar, but soon after turned over to PhilinCon in the person of Dr. Sanchez Jr.. After 2 injections of treatment 22 August 13-15, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Barusbus, Libertad, Pandan, Antique and w/in the NWPP-PA Foot patrol monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Tenorio, Joeserey Domingo, Rudy August 17, 2014 8:30 A.M. Brgy. Dumrog, Pandan, Antique Foot patrol monitoring that led to a successful apprehension. Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Dujali, Joven Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie August 18, 2014 6:00 P.M. Brgy. Centro Norte, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Apprehension Santillan, Rhea Guillermo, Faustino August 19, 2014 5:00 A.M. Mt. Tawidwid, Brgy. Luhod Bayang, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Matinong, Jose Ebon, Armelito Jr. August 25, 2014 3:20 A.M. Sitio San Juan, Brgy. San Roque, Libertad to Brgy. Patria, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose with antibacterial and fat soluble vitamins, the said turtle was released on August 8. After a whole night of monitoring operations from Mt. Bulalis via Mt. Palhe to Mt. Tabyaka, the team did not find any signs of illegal activities in the area. After valuable information from a concerned citizen, the following operation led to a very successful apprehension of 17 pieces of Natu timber with a total of 196 bd. ft.. Full police assistance was provided by the Office of PNP Pandan, headed by PNP Insp. Bryan Alamo Chief of Police/Station Commander. 33 pcs. = 342.6 bd. ft. of illegally cut and transported Mugis tree lumber were apprehended at the police checkpoint conducted by the PNP Pandan, headed by PNP Insp. Bryan Alamo. The information was gathered by the two WEOs listed in this report. No sign of illegal activities at the area could be detected during a whole night of monitoring/patrolling. Despite information received from a concerned citizen regarding illegal 23 September 5-6, 2014 8:00 P.M. Mt. Igpangi, Brgy. Magaba, Pandan, Antique Monitoring September 10, 2014 7:00 P.M. NWPP-PA Monitoring 9:00 P.M. Sitio San Juan, Brgy. San Roque, Libertad to Brgy. Brgy. Sto. Rosario to Brgy. Mag-aba, Pandan, Antique Monitoring September 1516, 2014 8:00 P.M. Sitio Kaligdon, Brgy. Magaba, Pandan, Antique Monitoring September 2021, 2014 5:00 P.M. Mt. Talangban, Brgy. Magaba to Brgy. Tingib, Pandan, Antique Foot Patrol Monitoring September 232014 10:00 A.M. Brgy. Sto. Rosario, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose September 2728, 2014 7:00 P.M. Brgy. Tingib, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy September 12, 2014 7:00 P.M. Monitoring Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino Domingo, Rudy timber to be delivered from Sitio San Juan to Sebaste, the team did not find any traces of illegal activities. No sign of illegal activities in the area could be detected after a whole night of monitoring/patrolling. Despite received reports about illegal cutting of timber at night-time, the team did not find any sighting of illegal activities during an overnight monitoring. Despite information received from a concerned citizen regarding the illegal slicing of a Mugni tree, the team found out during monitoring that only coconut trees were at the reported area. Despite information received from a concerned citizen regarding illegal timber to be delivered from Brgy. Tingib to Pandan, the team did not detect any illegal 24 October 1, 2014 8:00 P.M. Brgy. San Roque, Libertad, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Guillermo, Faustino Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy October 15, 2014 3:00 P.M. Sitio San Juan, Brgy. San Roque, Libertad, Antique Monitoring October 20-21, 2014 9:00 A.M. Sitio Atabay, Brgy. Patria, Pandan to Sitio San Juan, Libertad, Antique Foot patrol Monitoring October 23, 2014 10:00 P.M. Sitio San Juan, Libertad, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Santillan, Rhea October 25-26, 2014 4:00 P.M. Sitio Calabanog, Brgy. Idiacacan, Pandan, Ant. Foot patrol Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Guillermo, Faustino Fernandez, Freddie November 0305, 2014 1:00 P.M. Brgy. Nauhon, Sebaste, Antique Monitoring Foot patrol Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino Domingo, Rudy November 1213, 2014 9:00 A.M. Brgy. Candari, Brgy. Sto. Rosario to Brgy. Guia Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie November 21, 2014 Brgy. Mag-aba, Pandan, Antique General Clean up Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino activities during their monitoring. Monitoring conducted after request by PASU Rhodel Lababit During an overnight monitoring the team did not find a reported illegally cut Kamagong tree. Despite received information regarding a white elf delivering illegal timber from Sitio San Juan to North Sebaste, no vehicle could be spotted during overnight monitoring. The team conducted a foot patrol to Mt. Kabuluan, where a boat hull was reported to be located, but found nothing after an overnight operation. Despite information received from a concerned citizen regarding the illegal poaching of timber, intended to be used as boat hull, the team found nothing after 2 days of monitoring/foot patrol. During an overnight monitoring conducted by the team, there were no sightings of previously reported electro-fishing in the area. General cleaning of Mag-aba Rescue and 25 9:00 A.M. Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie November 2527, 2014 8:00 A.M. Northwest Panay Peninsula Protected Area Foot patrol Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie Mangga, Joeman December 0910, 2014 7:00 P.M Sitio Calabanog, Brgy. Idiacacan to Brgy. Patria, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Foot patrol Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie Santillan, Rhea Rehabilitation Facility in preparation of an upcoming visit of tourists. When the team reached Palhe Cave, they found 21 pieces of ropes, 1 cooking pot and 4 plates. These paraphernalia were presumably owned by illegal hunters active in the area. Targeted species had obviously been wild pigs and endangered birds, esp. Tarictics. The team started to conduct a turtle nest monitoring from Sitio Calabanog down to Brgy. Patria. A concerned citizen provided information on a potential nest at around 6:30 in the morning. At around 10 P.M. the team arrived at said nesting site at Brgy. San Andres, but the turtles had already hatched successfully a month ago. In order to confirm the information, the team started to dig out the nest and found shells of newly hatched turtles. Mr. Ricky Tamboong showed us 2 rescued newly hatched turtles which were about 2 weeks old. We asked him why he did not inform us in time, and he explained that he had informed their fish warden, Mr. Bobby Tindog, who informed 26 December 25, 2014 9:30 A.M Brgy. Cabugao, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Apprehension Ebon, Armelito Jr. Guillermo, Faustino Matinong, Jose Santillan, Rhea December 2627, 2014 9:00 A.M Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Antique Monitoring Ebon, Armelito Jr. Matinong, Jose Guillermo, Faustino Domingo, Rudy Fernandez, Freddie neither the project nor the office of the MENRO. In response to information received from a concerned citizen about illegal cutting of a Narra tree, the team apprehended, together with the PNP Pandan headed by Chief PI Brian Alamo, some Narra timber owned by Mr. Aokly Alvaro. The timber is now under custody of Brgy. Capt. Benito Rubite. The team found 2 Tipolo trees that had been already cut down, and 1 Mugni tree which had been already sliced into timber and hauled away. The 2 Tipolo have not yet been finished because the chainsaw operator had an accident while cutting it. 1.3 Animals under the care of PhilinCon Year 2014 by E. Sanchez Jr., DVM Sibaliw Admission Date/Origin Brgy. Alegre, Sebaste , Antique 2004 Animal Species Dulungan (Aceros waldeni) Sex Ring# Remarks male 0031 Slated for release target date January of 2015 June 2000 Brgy. Idiacacan, Pandan, Antique May 2002 sent up to Sibaliw 2008 2 Dulungans (Aceros waldeni) Female Female 0035 0036 Slated for release target date is January of 2015. Tarictic (Penelopides Female 0033 27 June 6, 2007 Brgy. Bagumbayan, Pandan , Antique May 24, 2007 Sebaste, Antique sent up to Sibaliw September 21, 2010 panini) Tarictic (Penelopides panini ) Taricitc (Penelopides panini) Tarictic (Penelopides panini) September 18, 2012 Sitio Bulabog, Brgy. Balabag, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan Dulungan (Aceros waldeni) (immature) June 20, 2014 2 Dulungans (Aceros waldeni) (immature) Female 0151 Male 104 Female 0164 Mortality due to super-typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 Surrendered to DENR, CENRO PAWCZMS Boracay through PhilinCon by Mr. Toby Mockel, and facilitated by Mr. Jason Probyn and Del Nano, owners of Nigui-Nigui Resort, Boracay Island , and Mr. Jun Aguirre from the Philippine News Agency (PNA). The hornbill has been sent to Sibaliw Station after 60 days of quarantine in Bulanao Reha Facility. Surrendered by Mr. J. Amar of Brgy. Importante, Mun. of Tibiao, Antique , through the efforts of Tibiao Fish Spa owner Nick Calawag of Brgy. Malabor. Mortality of 1 bird due to stress caused by environmental factors. Turn-over to PhilinCon in a DENR ceremony (DENR Caravan) in Libertad, Antique. Ring # Remarks Sent to Bulanao in August 2011. Mortality of 1 female during super-typhoon Yolanda on Male Female Sent up to Sibaliw February 11, 2009 Bulanao Rehabilitation Facility Admission Date/Origin July 2011 Brgy. Calabanog, Pandan, Antique Animal Species 3 Tarictics (Penelopides panini) (nestlings) Sex Male Female Female 28 November 30, 2011 San Andres, Pandan, Antique Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela holospilus) (adult) December 20, 2011 Religious Group Rally against mining in Antique Province , San José Public Plaza 2 Brahminy Kites (Haliastur indus) June 20, 2014 2 Tarictics (Penelopides panini) (immature) November 8, 2013. Admitted to Mag-aba Reha. Information on the whereabouts of this bird was provided to PhilinCon office staff by our partner NGO, CAPE Foundation. The turnover to our FR’s has been witnessed by the President of CAPE, Macky Lovina. Mortality due to super-typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. Birds were donated for rehabilitation and future release. 1 bird is a mortality of super-typhoon Yolanda. Turned over to PhilinCon by the DENR during a ceremony in Libertad, Antique. Surrendered to the DENR Office by Nick Calawag. Mag-aba Rehabilitation Facility Admission date/Origin July 2007 Brgy. Pajo, Libertad, Antique Animal Species Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela holospilus) (adult) May 2011, Brgy. Fragante, Pandan, Antique Grass Owl (Tyto capensis) August 11, 2012 Sitio Burabod, Brgy. 3 Crows (Corvus Sex Ring # 0799 Remarks Slated for release, targeted schedule is January 2015. Surrendered to DENR through PhilinCOn by Mr. Nonilon Dioso, And facilitated by SB Reynaldo Dioso and PhilinCon WEOs’ together with Christian Schwarz. Slated for release, targeted schedule is January 2015. Surrendered to DENR CENRO PAWCZMS 29 Callan, Sebaste, Antique brachyrhynchos) September 24, 2012 Poblacion, Kalibo, Aklan Dulungan (Aceros waldeni) (adult) January 16, 2013 Honey Buzzard (Pernis steerei) (immature) August 8, 2013 Visayan Spotted Deer (Rusa alfredi) (juvenile) December 7, 2013 Changeable Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus chirratus) (subadult) Female 32442 w/ Wilhelmshaven Vogelwarte Helgoland inscription through PhilinCon by Arnaldo Nepomuceno & Hermie Yac-yac. Released after a month (30 days) of quarantine. Surrendered to PhilinCon on behalf of CENRO Kalibo by Grace MapesoQuimpo. The bird has probably been in captivity for 14 years, as estimated by the owner. She had inherited the bird from her father. Mortality due to pectoral muscle atrophy and bacterial infection. Turn-over was facilitated by Brgy. Captain of Baybay, Pandan, Hon. Michael O. Condez, Liga President of the Association of Barangay Chairmans, Pandan, Antique. Turned over by CENRO San José, Antique, upon the recommendation of PAWCZMS Region 6 RTD Office (Carlo Custodio). Initially confiscated by the members of the PNP Mobile Group Bugasong, Antique, during their patrol operations in the hinterland barangays. Rescued by a fisherman from Brgy. San Andres, Pandan, Antique on December 2007. Said raptor perched on his banca and appeared weak and tired. Its last resort had been to hunt in the fish caught by the fisherman out of his banca. The bird 30 was probably unable to find prey, which had probably become very scarce due to super-typhoon Yolanda. Upon capture, the fisherman informed the MENRO (Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer) of Pandan, who immediately called the PhilinCon Reha in Mag-aba, Pandan. July 2014 August 6-7, 2014 Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela holospilus) (immature) Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) (immature) not determined Rehabilitation and Release: The raptor was brought up to good health, and after a necessary quarantine period of 30-45 days it was finally released on January 30, through an effort of the GIZ ForClim Project 2014. The release has been documented by a TV journalist from Germany. Turned over to PhilinCon after being received by our FR/WEO Rudy Domingo. Turned over to PhilinCon. The donor, Mr. Jesus Patiño, captured the said animal because it had been weak and floated on the sea surface, appearing emaciated. Treatment regime included antibacterial medications and vitamins A, D and E. Both medications have been administered intramuscularly. The turtle was released on August 8, 2014 31 Note: Admitted animals which are classified as “Unsuitable for release” are sent to the PAWD DENR Region 6 in Iloilo City. Release of Changeable Hawk-Eagle in Magaba on January 30, 2014. Left: Dr. Enrique Sanchez, Jr. explaining Mag-aba reha facility to local and international witnesses, including a German film team. Right: Eagle female being released. Release of Hawksbill Turtle in Barangay Zaldivar, Pandan, on August 8, 2014. 32 2. Conservation Research: Taxonomy and Biodiversity 2.1 Gambaquezonia curioi - a new species of Gambaquezonia from the Philippine island Panay (Araneae: Salticidae) Summary. - The jumping spider genus Gambaquezonia has been considered monotypic and endemic to the Philippine Island Luzon. Here, we describe a new species from the Philippine Island Panay, based on genital characters of a male and female specimen. The new species, Gambaquezonia curioi, is distinguished by the shape and structure of the male embolus and tibial apophysis and the epigynal sperm duct. Finally, we highlight the necessity of further arachnological exporations on the Philippine Archipelago (App. 3). 2.2 The praying mantids of Panay – an annotated checklist By Christian J. Schwarz, MSc., Project Manager Introduction The praying mantids (Mantodea) are a dictyopteran order of exclusively carnivorous insects, with about 2,500 described species (SVENSON et al. 2015). All species are thermophilous and strictly solitary predators distributed mainly in the tropics where they exhibit a variety of lifestyles and morphological ecotypes (PRETE et al. 1999, EHRMANN 2002, SCHWARZ 2003). Like most invertebrates, this group of insects is largely understudied in the Philippines, all data available to date being in fact decades-old expedition collections from Luzon or Mindanao, or without any specific locality. The most important contributions are those of STÅL (1877), HEBARD (1920), WERNER (1922, 1926) and BEIER (1966). Preliminary catalogues of the Philippine mantodean fauna were compiled by BRUNER (1915) and WERNER (1926). The Western Visayas are notoriously undersampled, with only a few specimens from Negros known in the literature (HEBARD 1920, ROY 2011). From 2010 to 2015 the author was the first to study the Panay mantodean fauna on a regular basis. All habitat types have been repeatedly sampled in the course of the cane toad study via manual search, light and pitfall trapping. The mantodean results of these investigations are compiled in the following list. It is expected to be a fairly complete account of the species occurring on the island given the fact that no new species have been added to the list since 2012. All species are new records for the island, several are new to science and will be described subsequently. The systematic arrangement of the order is currently in a state of successive revision, since recent phylogenetic studies (YAGER & SVENSON 2008, SVENSON & WHITING 2009, WIELAND 2013, LEGENDRE et al. 2015) are largely incongruent with the classic system established by BEIER (1964) and widely used since (e. g. EHRMANN 2002, OTTE & SPEARMAN 2005). Therefore, a revised system based on recent phylogenetic hypotheses is used here. Information on distribution, life history, primary defense strategy, and habitat type is given for each species. Life history strategies include arbusticolous and arboricolous ambush hunters, hanging on the underside of leaves in rainforests or inhabiting weeds in open habitats, and semi-cursorial bark and ground mantids (see EDMUNDS & BRUNNER 1999 and SCHWARZ 2003 for a review). Bark mantids can be divided into several subtypes, depending on the type of tree they inhabit and on the adaptations to this habitat. The ground mantid niche 33 is poorly represented in SE Asia (SCHWARZ & KONOPIK 2014), even more so on Panay, which only harbors one species with mostly terricolous nymphs (see below). With regards to the preferred habitat, the species on Panay can be roughly be grouped into two categories. Forest-dependent species are confined to closed canopy conditions and today restricted to primary and secondary dipterocarp forests, savaged plantations and neophyte stands. The second group is made up of species preferring open habitats. Initially, these taxa were confined to the upper canopy, tree fall gaps, landslide areas, and forest edges, but today they inhabit degraded man-made habitats like agricultural field margins, scrubland, and ruderal places. This group of mantids is naturally very rare in primary forests but was able to profit from human activity at the expense of forest taxa. Mantids are masters of camouflage and employ several different strategies to disguise themselves from prey and predators. Generalist morphotypes rely on homochromy or crypsis (background-matching color pattern). These species are often polyphonic and able to adopt the colors and pattern of the background. Other taxa employ disruptive coloration and morphology (e. g. lobes) to break up the body outline. However, when removed from their habitat, members of these groups still look like edible insects. Morphologically more specialized taxa evolved to closely resemble certain structures of the habitat, like twigs or leaves, or mimic inedible or harmful arthropod models like ants. Their camouflage does not rely on a matching background to be effective. Species list Fam. Leptomantellidae 01. Leptomantella lactea (Saussure, 1870) - Widely distributed in SE Asia. - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the canopy. - Female exhibits a primitive form of brood care: it stays close to its ootheca and lacks aggression towards newly hatched nymphs. 02. Aetaella bakeri Hebard, 1920 - Endemic in the Philippines, with a close relative in Borneo. - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the understorey and lower canopy. - Female exhibits a primitive form of brood care: it stays close to its ootheca and lacks aggression towards newly hatched nymphs. 34 Fam. Nanomantidae 03. Pliacanthopus sp. - New genus record for the Philippines, with close relatives in Malaysia. - Species description in progress - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the canopy. Fam. Gonypetidae 04. Amantis aeta Hebard, 1920 - Endemic in the Philippines, with close relatives in SE Asia. - Confined to forests. - Adults are generalist ambush hunters inhabiting the understorey and lower canopy, while nymphs are semi-cursorial and mainly terricolous (the only Panay mantid species sampled by pitfall traps). A terricolous or nearly terricolous lifestyle in both nymphs and adults is ancestral for the genus, A. aeta being an exception in this regard. - Nymphs and adults engage in foreleg waving (references in SCHWARZ & KONOPIK 2014). Nymphs resort to ant mimicry; later instars mimic the aggressive trap-jaw ant Odontomachus philippinicus. 05. Compsomantis mindoroensis Beier, 1942 - Described from neighboring Mindoro, but also common on Panay. - Found in open habitats. - Arbusticolous; this bark mantis subtype prefers slender branches to sit on. - Nymphs and adults engage in foreleg waving. Upon approaching threats, the mantids switch position to the opposite side of the twig. 06. gen. n. sp. n. aff. Compsomantis - Genus and species new to science, description in progress. - Endemic on Panay. - Confined to forests, but preferring sunny places in secondary forests and at forest edges. - Living on tree bark, prefers young trees. - Nymphs and adults engage in foreleg waving. Upon approaching threats, the mantids switch 35 position to the opposite side of the trunk and run up several centimeters before flattening against the bark. 07. Theopompa sp. - Possibly new to science; the status of this species is currently being investigated. - Confined to forests. - Living on tree bark, preferring the canopy of larger trees. - Upon an approaching threat, the mantids flatten themselves; if threat persists, they quickly run up the trunk. Fam. Haaniidae 08. Haania sp. “short wing” - New to science, description in progress. - Endemic on Panay. - Confined to forests. - Lives on mossy tree bark at low heights, representing a morphologically and behaviorally distinct subtype of bark mantids. - The ecology of this species has been described elsewhere (SCHWARZ 2014, KÜHN-VAN GELDERN et al. this volume). 09. Haania sp. “long wing” - New to science, description in progress. - Endemic on Panay. - Confined to forests. - Lives on mossy tree bark, representing a morphologically and behaviorally distinct subtype of bark mantids. - In contrast to the preceding species, this congener prefers dipterocarp bark heterogeneously covered in mosses, lichens, and small vines, climbs higher up the trees, and has a slightly divergent phenology (SCHWARZ 2014). Fam. Hymenopodidae 10. Creobroter meleagris Stål, 1877 - Endemic in the Philippines, with close relatives in SE Asia. - Found in open habitats. - Arbusticolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the inflorescences of weeds and scrubs. 36 - This species represents the “flower mantis” ecotype in the Philippines, characterized by disruptive coloration and morphology (lobes). Most commonly found on Ageratum conyzoides and Mikania cordata (both Asteraceae), sometimes also on Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (Verbenaceae) and small individuals of Melastoma polyantha (Melastomataceae). 11. Odontomantis euphrosyne Stål, 1877 - Endemic in the Philippines, with close relatives in SE Asia. - Found in open habitats. - Arbusticolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting weeds and scrubs. - Nymphs resort to ant mimicry, mimicking Camponotus, Plagiolepis and similarly-looking ants (MATHEW 1935). 12. Acromantis sp. - The status of this species is currently being investigated; the genus is widely distributed in SE Asia. - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous; on Panay this species is a generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the canopy. Other species may prefer weeds and scrubs in open habitats. - Nymphs resort to ant mimicry. Fam. Deroplatyidae 13. Tagalomantis manillensis (Saussure, 1870) - Endemic in the Philippines, known so far only from Luzon and Panay; a close relative occurs on Sulawesi. - Redescription in progress. - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous ambush hunter inhabiting the understorey and lower canopy. - This species represents the “stick mantis” ecotype on Panay, characterized by an elongate body and associated behavior enhancing stick resemblance. Female exhibits brood care: it guards its ootheca and lacks aggression towards newly hatched nymphs. Fam. Mantidae 14. Statilia pallida Werner, 1922 37 - Endemic in the Philippines, with close relatives in SE Asia. - Found in open habitats. - Graminicolous and arbusticolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting grasses and weeds. - The species exhibits green/brown polyphenism. 15. Tenodera aridifolia (Stoll, 1813) - Widely distributed in SE Asia. - Found in open habitats. - Graminicolous and arbusticolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting grasses and weeds. - The species exhibits a green/brown polyphenism. 16. Hierodula patellifera (Audinet-Serville, 1839) - Widely distributed in SE Asia. - Found in open habitats. - Arbusticolous and arboricolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting weeds and bushes. - The species exhibits a green/brown polyphenism. Freshly hatched nymphs resort to ant mimicry, mimicking the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina. 17. Hierodula cf. vitreoides Giglio-Tos, 1912 - Possibly endemic to the Philippines, the status of this species is currently being investigated. - Confined to forests. - Arboricolous, generalist ambush hunter inhabiting the canopy. - The species exhibits a green/brown polyphenism. Freshly hatched nymphs resort to ant mimicry, mimicking the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina. Discussion When compared with other island groups (PAICs) of the archipelago (HEBARD 1920, WERNER 1922, 1926, BEIER 1966), the mantid fauna of Panay is rather impoverished, lacking several SE Asian genera known to occur on Luzon or Mindanao, like Metallyticus, Amorphoscelis, Tropidomantis, Phyllothelys, Deroplatys, Euchomenella and Mesopteryx. This picture will probably turn out to be also roughly true for the Western Visayas as a whole, even though Negros harbors at least two species which have not yet been recorded from Panay (ROY 2011, pers. obs.). Most genera are represented on Panay by only one, often endemic species, with two exceptions. First, the speciose genus Hierodula, exemplifying the “typical” green generalist mantid in Asia and Australasia, has two species on Panay which occupy two different niches. 38 H. patellifera occurs in disturbed habitats, while H. cf. vitreoides requires more shade and replaces the former in primary forests. Heterogeneous secondary forests and savaged plantations may harbor both species. More interesting is the occurrence of two species of Haania on Panay. This mantodean group is phylogenetically much older than the Philippine islands (SVENSON & WHITING 2009) and turns out to have undergone a radiation event after colonizing the archipelago, comparable to the frog genus Platymantis. Aside from the two species on Panay, at least five other Philippine and several Sundaian species await description (Schwarz & Stiewe in prep.). Endemism level is moderate: 5 out of the 17 species recorded from the island are endemic, corresponding to a rate of 29%. The most unusual find is the single specimen of the new Pliacanthopus species, the first member of this genus recorded for the Philippines. It is possible that this or a related species occurs on other islands but has escaped detection so far. The reasons for the low number of taxa contrasting with fair levels of endemism is found in the relative isolation of the Greater Negros-Panay PAIC with respect to the remaining archipelago in particular, and of the Philippines to SE Asia in general. While the Greater Luzon and the Greater Mindanao PAIC are today separated from adjacent SE Asian mainland (and from each other) by only one oceanic barrier, a second oceanic barrier separates the Western Visayas, acting as an additional dispersal filter. This confirms the rather low transoceanic dispersal abilities of mantodeans when compared to other groups (in fact it is rather similar to that of mammals), underscored by a very low diversity on oceanic islands (SCHWARZ & KONOPIK 2014 and references therein). Another, maybe more important reason is the comparatively young age of the Greater NegrosPanay PAIC, which is estimated to be not older than 3.5 Ma (STEPPAN et al. 2003). Most other Philippine islands have provided dry land for longer periods of time (HALL 2009, STEPPAN et al. 2003, LOHMANN et al. 2011), providing colonization and persistence opportunities. In fact, speciation in most investigated taxa seems to be older than the PAICs created by glacial cycles and to reflect more the Miocene to Pliocene geologic history of the archipelago than Pleistocene sea level changes (STEPPAN et al. 2003, SILER et al. 2010, 2011, 2012). For example, emergent parts of the terranes making up present-day Sulawesi were connected with each other and with the northern Philippines via volcanic island chains until the Middle Miocene (15 Ma). Genera like Tagalomantis must have colonized Sulawesi and the Philippine archipelago from Sundaland by that time, since latest after 10 Ma, only the southern Philippines (where this genus does not occur) retained an island stepping stone connection to Sulawesi. In contrast, genera like Amorphoscelis and Deroplatys are missing from the central and northern Philippines, including Panay. They must have colonized the archipelago after 5 Ma, when stepping stones connected northern Borneo and Mindanao, and Borneo and Palawan, respectively (HALL 2009, LOHMANN et al. 2011). References BEIER M. (1964) Blattopteroidea, Mantodea, p. 849-970 in: BRONN H. G. (ed.), Klassen und Ordnungen des Tierreichs. Fünfter Band: Arthropoda. III Abteilung: Insecta. Geest & Portig, Leipzig. BEIER M. (1966) Noona Dan Papers No. 29. Die Mantiden der Noona Dan Expedition nach den Philippinen und Bismarck Inseln. Entomologiske Meddelelser 34: 361-370, 3 pl. 39 BRUNER L. (1915) Preliminary catalogue of the orthopteroid insects of the Philippine Islands. University Studies 15: 195-281. EDMUNDS M. & BRUNNER D. (1999) Ethology of Defenses against Predators, p. 276-299 in: PRETE F. R., WELLS H., WELLS P. H. & HURD L. E. (eds), The Praying Mantids. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London. EHRMANN R. (2002) Mantodea – Gottesanbeterinnen der Welt. Natur und Tier Verlag GmbH, Münster. HALL R. (2009) Southeast Asia’s changing palaeogeography. Blumea 54: 148-161. HEBARD M. (1920) Studies in Malayan, Papuan, and Australian Mantidae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 71: 14-82, 2 pl. KÜHN-VAN GELDERN R. & SCHWARZ C. J. (this volume) Ecology of a Bark Mantis (Haania sp., Mantodea), p. 40, in: CURIO E. (ed.), Panay Eco-Social Conservation Project (PanayCon) Eighteenth Annual Report. Available as download at www.panaycon.org/index.html. LEGENDRE F., NEL A., SVENSON G. J., ROBILLARD T., PELLENS R. & GRANDCOLAS P. (2015) Phylogeny of Dictyoptera: Dating the origin of cockroaches, praying mantises and termites with molecular data and controlled fossil evidence. PLoS ONE 10 (7): e0130127, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130127. LOHMANN D. J., BRUYN M. DE, PAGE T., RINTELEN K. VON, HALL R., NG P. K. L., SHIH H.-T., CARVALHO G. R. & RINTELEN T. VON (2011) Biogeography of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 42: 205-226. MATHEW A. P. (1935) Transformational deceptive resemblance as seen in the life history of a plant bug (Riptortus pedestris), and of a mantis (Euantissa pulchra). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 37: 803-813, 1 pl. OTTE D. & SPEARMAN L. (2005) Mantida species file – Catalog of the mantids of the world. Insect Diversity Association, Publication Number 1, Philadelphia. PRETE F. R., WELLS H., WELLS P. H. & HURD L. E. (1999) The Praying Mantids. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. ROY R. (2011) Les Amorphoscelinae Indo-Malais (Mantodea, Amorphoscelidae). Revue française d’Entomologie (N. S.) 32 (1-2): 65-92. SCHWARZ C. J. (2003) Diets and habitat preferences of neotropical praying mantids (Dictyoptera: Mantodea, Burm. 1838). Diploma thesis at the University of Würzburg. SCHWARZ C. J. (2014) Anspruchsvolle Zwerge – Die Tarnkünstler der Gattung Haania. Bugs 6: 24-29. SCHWARZ C. J. & KONOPIK O. (2014) An annotated checklist of the praying mantises (Mantodea) of Borneo, including the results of the 2008 scientific expedition to Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Sarawak. Zootaxa 3797 (1): 130-168. SILER C. D., DIESMOS A. C., ALCALA A. C. & BROWN R. M. (2010) Phylogeny and biogeography of Philippine bent-toed geckos (Gekkonidae: Cyrtodactylus) contradict a prevailing model of Pleistocene diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55: 699-710. SILER C. D., DIESMOS A. C., ALCALA A. C. & BROWN R. M. (2011) Phylogeny of Philippine slender skinks (Scincidae: Brachymeles) reveals underestimated species diversity, complex biogeographical relationships, and cryptic patterns of lineage diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59: 53-65. SILER C. D., OAKS J. R., WELTON L. J., LINKEM C. W., SWAB J. C., DIESMOS A. C. & BROWN R. M. (2012) Did geckos ride the Palawan raft to the Philippines? Journal of Biogeography 39: 1217-1234. STÅL C. (1877) Orthoptera nova ex insulis Philippinis descripsit. Öfversigt af Kongliga Vetenskaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar 34 (10): 33-58. 40 STEPPAN S. J., ZAWADZKI C. & HEANEY L. R. (2003) Molecular phylogeny of the endemic Philippine rodent Apomys (Muridae) and the dynamics of diversification in an oceanic archipelago. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 80: 699-715. SVENSON G. J. & WHITING M. F. (2009) Reconstructing the origins of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea): the role of Gondwanan vicariance and morphological convergence. Cladistics 25: 468-514. SVENSON G. J., HARDY N. B., CAHILL WIGHTMAN H. M. & W IELAND F. (2015) Of flowers and twigs: phylogenetic revision of the plant-mimicking praying mantises (Mantodea: Empusidae and Hymenopodidae) with a new suprageneric classification. Systematic Entomology doi: 10.1111/syen.12134. WERNER F. (1922) Philippine mantids, or praying insects. Philippine Journal of Science 21: 147-157, 1 pl. WERNER F. (1926) Zur Kenntnis der Mantodeen der Philippinen. Konowia 5: 227-232. WIELAND F. (2013) The phylogenetic system of Mantodea (Insecta: Dictyoptera). Species, Phylogeny, and Evolution 3: 1-306. YAGER D. D. & SVENSON G. J. (2008) Patterns of praying mantis auditory system evolution based on morphological, molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 94: 541-568. 3. Behavioural Ecology 3.1 Ecology of a Bark Mantis (Haania sp., Mantodea) By Rabea Kühn-van Geldern and Christian J. Schwarz Introduction and Methods Haania sp. male (left) and female (right). 1 The SE Asian genus Haania Saussure, 1871, contains morphologically highly specialized praying mantids living on mossy tree bark. Ten species are currently known but the genus is more diverse than previously known; several species await description. Panay harbors two undescribed species, one of which is more abundant. Previous observations had revealed that the behavior of Haania differs considerably from typical generalist mantids (SCHWARZ 2014), so a more detailed study was conducted from February to March at Sibaliw station. Only one location in the primary forest is known to sustain a population of this mantid. However, it also occurs in the secondary forest, albeit at lower densities. The season was already advanced for this species, nevertheless 19 specimens (5 females, 1-2 males, 2-3 subadults and ten younger nymphs) could be observed. Observation periods lasted ↓ from 11 to 17 h. Bark mantids exhibit site fidelity (SCHWARZ 2003), so usually a specimen could be encountered on the same tree on consecutive days. However, several individuals vanished during the course of the study. The following parameters were recorded: circumference of the inhabited tree, relative moss cover up to 1 m height, occurrence of vines, distance of mantid to the ground, cardinal direction, orientation of mantid, distance of mantid from margin of moss cover, and the direction of sun and wind with respect to the mantid. Intraspecific interactions and territorial behavior was also assessed by displacing selected individuals to trees occupied by a conspecific. Numerical values are given as mean ± SD. ← Results and Discussion 1. Morphology and primary defenses These mantids exhibit crypsis, and disruptive coloration and morphology as adaptations to their habitat. Their green ground color is mottled with dark and light. Disruptive effects breaking up the body outline are achieved through the lobes on head, pronotum, and abdomen, annulated walking legs, and two pairs of bright lateral V-like patterns above the walking legs coxae. The walking legs are long, slender and stalk-like, holding the body of the mantid above the moss cover. Young nymphs are pale green and become successively brighter green in the course of the post-embryonic developOothecae Haania sp. female camouflaged on mossy bark ment. Oothecae are laid on structures protruding from the moss and are on average 5 mm long and 2-3 mm wide and high. In contrast to other bark mantids (HILL et al. 2004, SCHWARZ, this volume) Haania does not spiral up or down the trunk upon an approaching threat, but bends the body and crouches against the moss. Only Habitat 42 when poked repeatedly they start to run away using all six pairs of legs. Adult males are good fliers and sometimes attracted to lights. 2. Habitat requirements Haania sp. only inhabits dry trees covered by short mosses and hit by the sun. Therefore, it avoids most parts of the primary forest, which are too shady and too humid, and prefers steep slopes or adjacent secondary forests. Moss cover (at 100 cm height) of the trees inhabited by the study specimens averaged 81 ± 9%. Average circumference of inhabited trees was 94 ± 62 cm. A possible explanation for the avoidance of thin trees is that those are shaken too much by the wind. Horizontal branches are likewise avoided. 3. Behavior Orientation Geotropy is strongly supported in this species, as has been in other bark mantids (e. g. LIEFTINCK 1953, LADAU 2003, SCHWARZ 2003): 91% of nymphs and 84% of adults assumed the geotropic position. Of the remaining, 8% of nymphs and 13% of adults chose the upright position, while just 1-3% of specimens rested sideways. The adaptive significance of geotropic behavior may be related to successful prey capture. Hunting against the direction of the light presumably impedes proper object recognition. Most bark mantids observed by the second author assume the geotropic orientation by day. In contrast, the upright position is often assumed by night (KROMBEIN 1963). These orientation switches between day and night have not been observed in Haania and Astape (LIEFTINC K 1953, Schwarz pers. obs.). Perch height Adults prefer the lower parts of the tree, resting at an average height of 34 ± 10 cm. In contrast, nymphs have been found to rest at heights of 83 ± 15 cm. The maximum height an individual has been found at was 120 cm. Wind and sun avoidance Almost all specimens (90% of adults and 100% of First instar nymph nymphs) rested on the lee side of the tree. This was also true with regard to the position of the mantid with respect to the sun: 97% of adults and 100% of nymphs rested outside direct sunlight. The low heights preferred by the mantids in combination with their avoidance of excessive sun and wind may be a consequence of their habitat requirements, defined by low substrate humidity but high atmospheric humidity. Moss cover is more extensive at low heights in those parts of the forest inhabited by populations of this mantid. Also, wind stress is lower near the ground than at several meters off the ground, causing less disturbance (which equals to energetic loss) and desiccation stress to the individual. This may also be the reason for the localized occurrence of these mantids: long-fronded mosses in other parts of the primary 43 forest are too moist (because they dry out too slowly after rains), and impede proper locomotion. Distance to moss cover margin In most cases the mantids rested directly on the moss, keeping a distance of 24 ± 10 cm (adults) and 10 ± 5 cm (nymphs) to the margin of the moss cover. This is in concordance with their cryptic defense strategy. Mantids are able to perceive suitable backgrounds and prefer those in favor of non-matching resting places (reviewed in EDMUNDS & BRUNNER 1999 and BERG et al. 2011). Cardinal direction There was a difference in the preferred cardinal direction between adults and nymphs: while 56% of adults rested on the southern side of the tree, with North being the second-most preferred side (26%), nymphs preferred the northern and western sides (44% and 26%, respectively). This difference may be a consequence of the location, since the studied nymphs inhabited a different part of the forest with a different wind direction. Thus, the chosen resting side seems to be not influenced by cardinal direction per se, but by other abiotic factors like position of the sun and prevailing direction. Activity Haania sp. is less cursorial than other bark mantids and can be regarded as a typical ambush species which spends most of the day motionless. For adults, this amounts to 67% of the time. This roughly equals the amount of time spent motionless by the arboricolous ambush species Sphodromantis lineola (ZACK 1978), and is somewhat less than the 75.3% recorded for the bark mantis genus Liturgusa (SCHWARZ 2003). Prey capture and ingestion is a rare event, accounting for 1% of observation time. This is much less than the values recorded by SCHWARZ (2003) for Liturgusa (11.6%). This may be explained by the fact that the latter genus feeds mainly on ants, which are a common prey item, in contrast to the rather rare prey encounters most mantids are faced with. Other activities observed in Haania are grooming (11%) and locomotion (21%). The time required for grooming roughly corresponds to the values for other species (16.7% in S. lineola, 11% in Liturgusa), while locomotion (not related to prey capture) is more common in Haania. It is mostly caused by wind driving the mantid to the lee side (15%), and as such may be a characteristic of the peculiar habitat of this species. Nymphs are more sedentary than adults, spending 96.7% of the time motionless. 4. Intraspecific interactions Territorial behavior was tested by removing a subadult or adult specimen from its home tree and placing near a conspecific at about 15-20 cm. This experiment was not performed with young nymphs, since they show a much more greater tolerance to conspecifics than is the case in subadults and adults. In the field, several young and medium-sized nymphs may share a tree, while this is very rarely the case with adults. Only six specimens were available for this experiment due to the advanced season. Some specimens were used for more than one trial, allowing 10 trials to be performed. In all cases (100%) the resident mantid showed dominant behavior, expressed either as active (attack, 50%) or passive (standing its ground, 50%) territory defense. The intruder fled in all cases. The attacks of the resident mantid resulted in one intruder being killed; four trials have been prematurely ended by the experimenter to avoid the killing of the attacked specimen. A 44 high degree of territoriality in adults had already been noted by SCHWARZ (2014) and partly coincides with observations on another Haania species from Palawan (Schwarz unpubl.) and on the closely related genus Astape on Java (LIEFTINCK 1953). In the latter cases, the territory of a female was also defended against intruders, but in contrast to the Panay species, more than one specimen may be found on a single tree. The mantids of the genus Haania differ in several respects from typical ambush mantids which had served as models in scientific studies so far (see PRETE et al. 1999 and BERG et al. 2011 for an overview). This study was conducted towards the end of the adult’s phenological timeframe, so obtaining a good sample size (particularly of adult males) proved problematical. Additional translocation experiments involving adults of both sexes and nymphs will help to deepen our understanding of the intraspecific behavioral repertoire of this mantid species, including sexual interaction, prey capture, and (the lack of?) territorial aggression towards nymphs. Observation time should be extended into the night to account for circadian shifts in activity patterns. References BERG M., SCHWARZ C. J. & MEHL J. E. (2011) Die Gottesanbeterin, Mantis religiosa. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 656, Westarp Wissenschaften, Hohenwardsleben. EDMUNDS M. & BRUNNER D. (1999) Ethology of Defenses against Predators, p. 276-299 in: PRETE F. R., WELLS H., WELLS P. H. & HURD L. E. (eds), The Praying Mantids. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London. HILL P., HOLWELL G., GÖTH A. & HERBERSTEIN M. (2004) Preference for habitats with low structural complexity in the praying mantid Ciulfina sp. (Mantidae). Acta Oecologica 26: 1-7. KROMBEIN K. V. (1963) Behavioral notes on a Floridian mantid, Gonatista grisea (F.) (Orthoptera, Mantidae). Entomological News 74 (1): 1-2, 1 pl. LADAU J. (2003) Prey capture in a mantid (Gonatista grisea): Does geotropy promote success? Canadian Journal of Zoology 81: 354-356. LIEFTINCK M. A. (1953) Biological and ecological of a bark haunting mantid in Java (Orthopt., Mantoidea). Transactions of the Ninth International Congress of Entomology 2: 125-134. PRETE F. R., WELLS H., WELLS P. H. & HURD L. E. (1999) The Praying Mantids. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London. SCHWARZ C. J. (2003) Diets and habitat preferences of neotropical praying mantids (Dictyoptera: Mantodea, Burm. 1838). Diploma thesis at the University of Würzburg. SCHWARZ C. J. (2014) Anspruchsvolle Zwerge – Die Tarnkünstler der Gattung Haania. Bugs 6: 24-29. SCHWARZ C. J. (this volume) The Praying Mantids of Panay – an Annotated Checklist, p. … in: CURIO E. (ed.), Panay Eco-Social Conservation Project (PanayCon) Eighteenth Annual Report. Available as download at www.panaycon.org/index.html. ZACK S. (1978) Description of the behavior of praying mantis with particular reference to grooming. Behavioural Processes 3: 97-105. 45 3.2 Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis: top-down effects through three trophic levels By Christoph Schwitzke, Brigitte Fiala, K. Eduard Linsenmair, Eberhard Curio Abstract. – Facultative ant–plant mutualisms are variable systems, shaped by a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Especially in tropical ecosystems, the generally assumed mutualistic benefits are often hard to prove. We studied the system Leea manillensis on the Philippine island Panay and its indirect defence mechanism against herbivory by producing extrafloral nectar therewith attracting ants. Unexpectedly, we found an ant-parasitoid wasp from the genus Chalcura (Eucharitidae) to have a strong influence on the system, on ants as well as on plants. The parasitoid not only altered the behaviour of interacting ant species, but also directly and indirectly affected the plants’ fitness. This study demonstrates how top-down effects may alter species interactions and have a massive effect on mutualisms and their beneficial outcome (App. 4). 3.3 Flight Styles in some Passerines By Eberhard Curio Abstract. – Semi-quantitative observations of the circumstances account under which bounding flight and steady (flapping) flight are performed by two forest-dwelling passerines of two different lineages (Pycnonotidae, Philippine Bulbul Hypsipetes philippinus; Paridae, Great Tit Parus major) in free flight. Bounding flight is one of two intermittent flight styles, to the exclusion of undulating flight, in passerines weighing ≤100g. A new bounding flightspeed relationship is apt to shed light on the power output of bounding flight. In line the function found in most flying animals for metabolic energy expenditure against speed the relationship support a flattened J-curve as compared to U-shaped curve found in some birds; this is based on the monotony of the parameters of bounding as a function of speed. Whether bounding flight is saving energy as proposed by the work of Rayner et al., and of Tobalske in tunnel wind experiments, would depend to the kinematics of flight in free-flying birds such as the Bulbul and the Tit. – Further observations demonstrate that both steady flight and bounding flight are used in foraging and in chases of two birds of the same species, whilst ‘mock’ prey capture and ‘group acrobatics’ in the Bulbul are tentatively assigned a training role serving prey capture and predator evasion, respectively. – Observations of Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) support the idea of flapping flight changing abruptly into the still phase of bounding flight and is therefore consistent with ’body morphing’ in the Bulbul (App. 5). 46 Appendices 1 – 5: Overview App. 1 Staff of PhilinCon Organizational Structure and Staff App. 2 Rhea Matining Visitors of Research Station ‘Sibaliw’ App. 3 M. Freudenschuss, A. Grabolle & H. Krehenwinkel Gambaquezonia curioi – a new Species of Gambaquezonia from the Philippine Island Panay (Araneae: Salticidae). Arachnology in press App. 4 C. Schwitzke, B. Fiala, K. E. Linsenmair & E. Curio App. 5 E. Curio Eucharitid Ant-parasitroid effects facultative Ant-plant Leea manillensis: Top-down Effects through three trophic Levels. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 9: 497-505. DOI 10.1007/s11829-015-9391-y. Flight Styles in some Passerines. Ecol. Birds (Ökol. Vögel) XX. 201X: 00-00, in press Appendix 1 Organizational Stucture of PhilinCon Appendix 2 VISITORS OF SIBALIW RESEARCH STATION Year 2014 Name Affiliation Kristin Hagel Former student of RuhrUniversitat Bochum Paul French United Kingdom Rhea Santillan PhilinCon/PanayCon staff/ WEO Faustino Guillermo Forest Ranger/ Wildlife Enforcement Officer Joven Dujali Forest Ranger/Wildlife Enforcement Office Jose Matinong Forest Ranger/Wildlife Enforcement Officer Rudy Domingo Forest Ranger/Wildlife Enforcement Officer Armelito Ebon Jr. Forest Ranger/Wildlife Enforcement Officer Nestor Bagac PhilinCon/PanayCon Staff Brendan Sloan Local Government Officer London Dr. Maren Gaulke Project Herpetologist Dr. Hendrik Freitag Ateneo De Manila Marivine M. Santos National Museum of the Philippines Clister V. Pangantihon National Museum of the Philippines Gersom Operiano Field Assistant Dr. Friedhelm Goeltenboth Visayas Statte University Baybay, Leyte Prof. Dr. Eberhard Curio PhilnCon/PanayCon Founder Date Reason for Visit January 10, 2014 visit January 21-24,2014 birdwatching January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring January 21-22,2014 Project visit, conduct monitoring Feb. 15-17, 2014 Birding Feb. 24-26, 2014 Herpetological research Feb.24-26, 2014 Field sampling w/ Phil.National Museum Field sampling w/ Phil.National Museum Feb.24-26, 2014 Feb.24-26, 2014 Field sampling w/ Phil.National Museum Site establishment April 2-4,2014 Project visit April 3-15, 2014 Project visit Scientific Adviser Prof. Maragtas Amante University of the Philippines Diliman Director Rene N. Rollon University of the Philippines Diliman Dr. Benjamin M. Vallejo University of the Philippines Diliman Jonathan M. Madrid University of the Philippines Mardonie Cruz University of the Philippines Arnel Telesforo Panay Bird Club Ruperto Quitag Panay Bird Club Emmanuel Lerona Panay Bird Club Frederick Arceo Panay Bird Club Gersom Operiano Field Assistant Joeman Mangga Field Assistant/FR/WEO Luciano Palmieri Philippine National Museum Collaborator Lilian Rodriguez Philppine Natinal Museum Collaborator Prashant Sharma Philippine National Museum Collaborator Ronald Clouse Philippine National Museum Collaborator Perry Buenavente Philppine National Museum Collaborator David Wynne London Marlon Legurpa University of Visayas Prof. Sasha Dioso University of Visayas Miag-ao Frances Anthea Redison Educator Arthur Hortillo April 14-15,2014 Discuss field course and MOA With Prof. Curio April 1-15, 2014 Discuss field course and MOA with Prof. Curio April 1-15, 2014 Discuss field course and MOA with Prof. Curio April 1-15, 2014 April 21-23, 2014 Discuss field course and MOA with Prof. Curio Discuss field course and MOA with Prof. Curio Bird watching April 21-23, 2014 Bird watching April 21-23, 2014 Bird watching April 21-23, 2014 Bird watching May 13-20, 2014 Site establishment May 13-20, 2014 Site establishment May 13-14, 2014 Research Voulnteer May 13-14, 2014 Research Volunteer May 15-17, 2014 Research Volunteer May 15-19, 2014 Research volunteer May 15-19, 2014 Research volunteer July 3-4, 2014 Bird watching/ site seeing August 7-8, 2014 Site seeing/exploring August 7-8, 2014 Site seeing/exploring August 7-8, 2014 Site seeing/exploring August 27-29, 2014 Install and repair solar power April 1-15, 2014 Solar Technician Ryan James Posadas Solar Technician Lena Scheimann PhilinCon/Ruhr Universitat Bochum Prof. Dr. Eberhard Curio PhilinCon/PanayCon Founder Scientific Adviser Christian Schwarz, MSc., Project Manager/ PhD student Lena Scheimann PhilinCon/Ruhr Universitat Bochum Delizia Polli Switzerland Luca Hauri Switzerland Fernando Sierra Worldwide Cover-Switzerland Prepared by: Rhea A. Santillan Project Bookkeeper August 27-19, 2014 Install and repair solar power Sept.9-Oct.17,2014 Study of Biology/Research volunteer Sept. 10-22, 2014 Project visit/ Research October 22-27, 2014 Project visit/ research volunteer October 30-Nov.30, 2014 Study of Biology/ Research volunteer November 10-11, 2014 Nov. 10-11, 2014 Site seeing/ bird watching Nov. 16-17, 2014 Site seeing/bird watching Site seeing/bird watching Appendix 3 Gambaquezonia curioi - a new species of Gambaquezonia from the Philippine island Panay (Araneae: Salticidae) Running title: A new Philippine jumping spider species By Mario Freudenschuss, Arno Grabolle and Henrik Krehenwinkel Key words: Panay, taxonomy, new species, Salticidae, jumping spiders, Philippines, biodiversity Summary. - The jumping spider genus Gambaquezonia has been considered monotypic and endemic to the Philippine Island Luzon. Here, we describe a new species from the Philippine Island Panay, based on genital characters of a male and female specimen. The new species, Gambaquezonia curioi, is distinguished by the shape and structure of the male embolus and tibial apophysis and the epigynal sperm duct. Finally, we highlight the necessity of further arachnological exporations on the Philippine Archipelago. Arachnology in press. Appendix 4 Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis: top-down effects through three trophic levels Christoph Schwitzke, Brigitte Fiala, K. Eduard Linsenmair & Eberhard Curio Arthropod-Plant Interactions An international journal devoted to studies on interactions of insects, mites, and other arthropods with plants ISSN 1872-8855 Arthropod-Plant Interactions DOI 10.1007/s11829-015-9391-y 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science +Business Media Dordrecht. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Arthropod-Plant Interactions DOI 10.1007/s11829-015-9391-y ORIGINAL PAPER Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis: top-down effects through three trophic levels Christoph Schwitzke1 • Brigitte Fiala1 • K. Eduard Linsenmair1 • Eberhard Curio2 Received: 9 March 2015 / Accepted: 25 July 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract Facultative ant–plant mutualisms are variable systems, shaped by a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Especially in tropical ecosystems, the generally assumed mutualistic benefits are often hard to prove. We studied the system Leea manillensis on the Philippine island Panay and its indirect defence mechanism against herbivory by producing extrafloral nectar therewith attracting ants. Unexpectedly, we found an ant-parasitoid wasp from the genus Chalcura (Eucharitidae) to have a strong influence on the system, on ants as well as on plants. The parasitoid not only altered the behaviour of interacting ant species, but also directly and indirectly affected the plants’ fitness. This study demonstrates how top-down effects may alter species interactions and have a massive effect on mutualisms and their beneficial outcome. Keywords Chalcura Extrafloral nectaries Ants Mutualistic interaction Philippines Handling Editor: Heikki Hokkanen. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11829-015-9391-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Christoph Schwitzke [email protected] 1 Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany 2 Conservation Biology Unit, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, ND 1/31 Universitaetsstrasse 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany Introduction Interactions between organisms can be very complex and are often yet unexplored (Dáttilo et al. 2014), especially in tropical forests. Within ecosystems, members of different trophic levels are interacting with each other by regulatory forces. According to their main direction and frequency, these are described as top-down and bottom-up regulations (e.g. Power 1992; Oksanen and Oksanen 2000; Ernest and Brown 2001; Báez et al. 2006). The trophic cascade model combines both forces. These forces can flow up and down the trophic structure, and organisms on any level can have dramatic effects on the composition of the whole community (Leibold 1989; Schmitz 1993). Compared with investigations of predation and competition as structuring forces, studies that address the roles of mutualism and parasitism in shaping communities are underrepresented. Mutualistic interactions between species are widespread in tropical forests, playing an important role in ecosystem functioning (Thompson 2006). For instance, ant–plant protection mutualisms have served as model systems to study mechanisms promoting species coexistence and trophic cascades, and they are known for many plants from different taxonomic groups (Heil and McKey 2003; Bronstein et al. 2006). Protection mutualisms can have far-reaching effects in food webs, because they involve not only direct (and often indirect) trophic exchanges between the two mutualists, but also interactions with additional trophic levels (Dyer 2008). In these associations, ants are defending a valuable food resource such as extrafloral nectar (EFN) and thus are indirectly protecting the entire plant or plant parts, respectively, against herbivores. Many studies demonstrated a positive effect of EFN on the fitness of the host plant, but others failed to find a benefit (ÓDowd and Catchpole 1983; Mody and 123 Author's personal copy Christoph Schwitzke et al. Linsenmair 2004; Horvitz and Schemske 1984; Bronstein 1998, do Nascimento and Del-Claro 2010). The different results of these studies might be caused by the fact that in general these associations are characterized by a low specificity and high variability, with plants attracting a broad range of ant species (Schemske 1982; Diaz-Castelazo et al. 2010) as well as other arthropods (Koptur 1992). While ant–plant interactions have been a research focus in different tropical regions, from the Philippines even basic knowledge about ant–plant interactions is lacking. And still more basically, the Philippine ant fauna is very poorly explored (General and Alpert 2012), and an unknown number of species has probably already been lost, due to the fact that only about 11.2 % of primary forests were left in 2010 through large-scale anthropogenic destruction (FAO UN 2010). We found that the shrub Leea manillensis (Leeaceae) offering EFN and food bodies (FB) on its shoots was regularly visited by ants. However, none of the hitherto performed studies could prove any benefit derived by the plant due to the ants’ presence and their potential protection against herbivores, but the genus Leea has been reported to be involved in facultative mutualisms in other parts of Southeast and East Asia (Fiala and Linsenmair 1995; Meng et al. 2011). The original aim of our study was to investigate this yet unknown ant–plant association and its mutualistic quality. Unexpectedly, this system became complicated by a third trophic level—an antparasitoid wasp of the genus Chalcura (Hymenoptera: Eucharitidae: Eucharitinae). This wasp turned out to be abundant and to have a massive impact on plants as well as on ants. Parasitoids are important organisms and abundant members of nearly all terrestrial communities, essentially contributing to the high biodiversity of tropical ecosystems (Godfray 2007). Their species richness (and therefore possible functional relevance) has been markedly underestimated in the tropics (see, e.g. Veijalainen et al. 2012; Hrcek et al. 2013). The Eucharitidae is the only insect family known to comprise only parasitoids specialized on ant brood (Heraty 1985; Heraty and Darling 1984; reviewed in Lachaud and Pèrez-Lachaud 2012). All members of this family, where the life cycle is known, develop as koinobiont, larval–pupal ectoparasitoids (Lachaud and Pèrez-Lachaud 2012). Females place their eggs away from the host on plant tissue. The active firstinstar larvae (planidia) are responsible for gaining access to the larval ant host via various phoretic behaviours, involving attachment to ant workers or intermediate hosts carried into the colony by ant workers (Heraty 2000). Ants tend to intensively forage on plants, especially when a food source as honeydew or EFN is given (Blüthgen and Fiedler 2004). Pérez-Lachaud et al. (2006) gave a description of the life cycle of Kapala iridicolor (Eucharitidae) from the 123 Neotropics, which oviposits on undeveloped flower buds of Melampodium divaricatum (Asteraceae), possessing extrafloral nectaries at the abaxial side of its leaves. Observations of Carey et al. (2012) suggest that the parasitoid Orasema simulatrix (Eucharitidae) oviposits almost exclusively in the near vicinity of the extrafloral nectaries of Chilopsis linearis (Bigoniaceae), ensuring to gain access to an ant colony. But so far, no attention has been paid to the parasitoids‘ influence on the whole system and on possible effects of the protective function of the ants for the plants. Up to now, studies on ant–plant protection mutualisms mediated through a plant-derived food source have usually only regarded direct interactions between ants and herbivorous insects (but see, e.g. Rudgers 2004; Pires and DelClaro 2014 and references therein). However, as our study shows, interactions can be much more complex. To test whether Leea manillensis is indeed involved in mutualistic interactions with ants, we studied food production, ant visitors, and their possible benefits for the plant. As a further trophic level was involved in our study system, we also needed to analyse the biology of the ant-parasitoid and its interference with the ant–plant relationship. In this study, we report about the parasitoid, its impact on the fitness of Leea manillensis, and the entire ant–plant system and show the effects propagated through three different trophic levels. Materials and methods Study site The study site was located in the midwestern Philippines on the island Panay, within the ‘Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park’ in the north of the island, an area of mountainous secondary and primary lowland rainforest around the research station ‘Sibaliw’ (11490 9.7600 N, 121570 37.9500 E). The station was established by the Philippine NGO ‘PhilinCon’ and Eberhard Curio in 1997 on an abandoned settlement area, with the youngest secondary forest being about 35 years old. The study was carried out in secondary as well as primary forest habitats. Study species Leea manillensis (Leeaceae) is a large erect shrub with height up to 6 m, terminal inflorescences, and large stipular structures that enclose the next generation of shoots. It is distributed widespread throughout the Philippines and parts of Southeast Asia (Molina et al. 2013) and was formerly included in L. guineensis (Ridsdale 1976). The species is shade-tolerant, growing in the understory, as well as in Author's personal copy Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis… forest gaps (and edges) in primary and secondary forests, with especially high abundances in bright, young-aged secondary growth forests. Photographs of Leea manillensis are shown in Online Resource 1. We checked the plants’ shoots for the occurrence of extrafloral nectaries and food bodies, ants, or any other visitors. Nectar sugar content was measured after 5-h exclusion of ants from nectaries. Ant exclusion was achieved via the application of grease at the basis of the shoot. Droplets were taken with a glass capillary (KG01, A. Hartenstein laboratory supplies: 100 9 0.9 mm, wall thickness 0.1 mm), and sugar content in per cent was measured using a hand-held refractometer (Hand-Held Refractometer RHB-32ATC). Parasitoid wasps As we found an ant-parasitoid wasp from the genus Chalcura (Eucharitidae) to have a strong influence on the system, all the experimental shoots were regularly surveyed for wasps, planidia, and any abnormalities in growth or habitus. Planidia were taken to the field station in vials for further observations and photographs. The parasitoid wasp was determined to genus level by Stefan Schmidt at the Bavarian Zoological State Collection, Munich (ZSM), and voucher specimens of wasps (females, males, planidia) were deposited at the ZSM. The Eucharitidae (Chalcidoidea) is a small family with a worldwide distribution and divided into three subfamilies Oraseminae, Eucharitinae, and Gollumielinae. All of its members, where the host is known, parasitize ant brood (Pérez-Lachaud et al. 2006; Lachaud and Perez-Lachaud 2012). Species are found in all zoogeographical regions, but most are confined to the tropics. Eucharitids attack ants in at least 21 genera, distributed across the subfamilies Formicinae, Myrmeciinae, Myrmicinae, and Ponerinae (Heraty 1994). Some genera show a very broad host range, with species found on several different genera, or even on different subfamilies of ants. Most genera, however, are restricted to a single genus of ants (Heraty 1994). Experiments on herbivory The study was conducted in 2011 during 3 months of the rainy season from 15 August to 21 November. The initial aim was to study the system Leea manillensis and its defence mechanism against herbivory by producing extrafloral nectar (EFN) therewith attracting ants. A total of 223 plants were found in the study area—primary and secondary forests—and marked individually. Of these, 213 shoots were used for a short-term experiment on herbivory. All of these plants were monitored regularly. With a shoot expanding, the main experiment began, and plants were monitored visually every 3 days for a period of 21 days. We recorded the presence or absence of ants, ant species, and abundance on the shoot, as well as the number of other arthropods feeding on the plant tissue or at the EFN. After the 21-day period, the shoots were cut, dried between sheets of paper, and photographed (Canon Digital IXUS 50) on scale paper for further analyses related to leaf area loss due to herbivory. To analyse leaves for possible ant herbivore defence, leaf area loss was measured for each shoot using Photoshop (Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended, version 12.0.4 9 64). Leaf area loss was expressed as percentage of missing leaf area as well as lost area in cm2. As leaves do not shrink by more than 5 % during the process of drying, data from dried leaves give a reliable estimate of missing leaf area (Heil 2004). A complete loss of the shoot due to herbivory, which was a frequent incidence, was recorded as 100 % leaf area loss. Shoots with only intermittent ant association were not used for further experiments on herbivory. Results Leea manillensis and its associations with ants The plant produced FB and EFN on its shoots that were mainly visited by different ant species, but also by a variety of other arthropods. Up to eight elongated extrafloral nectaries are found on the shoots’ stipule and two to six elongated extrafloral nectaries at the nodes above the stipule (Online Resource 1). When the young leaves become mature, the extrafloral nectaries stop nectar production. All of the shoots possessed nectary glands. However, production was very variable as many shoots did not produce FB or EFN at all. Food bodies usually occurred only in the first days after shoot expansion and predominantly around the shoots’ stipule and on the internode above. We assume the production of EFN and FB to be dependent on a combination of abiotic and biotic factors, but our study did not emphasize any clear pattern of dependency in that respect. Plant size did not play an important role, as we observed even seedlings to produce EFN and attract ants. Plants growing under low light conditions attracted ants as well as plants growing in forest gaps (unpublished observations). Out of 223 marked plants, a total of 80 plants were visited by ants, whereas on 90, ants were never observed at the shoots’ nectaries. On 53 plants, ants were only rarely found at the nectaries. Only 36 % of the marked plants of Leea manillensis showed a permanent association with ants. On constantly ant-free plants also, no other visitors of the extrafloral nectaries were observed, suggesting a general inactivity of the nectary glands. In contrast, on shoots with regular ant occupation, droplets of EFN occurred on 123 Author's personal copy Christoph Schwitzke et al. the nectaries soon after ant exclusion. The average sugar content of the EFN droplets after 5-h ant exclusion was 16.6 % (n = 13). Ant activity was mainly concentrated on the biggest nectary glands at the stipule and to a lesser extent at the extrafloral nectaries positioned directly at the nodes. Occasionally, ants were observed feeding on extrafloral nectaries located at the underside of the leaves, but only on fresh shoots or in combination with—and probably connected to—recent leaf damage. Over the study period of 3 months, a total of 26 ant species were observed visiting the extrafloral nectaries on the shoots of Leea manillensis. Sixteen ant species out of six genera showed a constant assemblage on the nectaries (from shoot expansion until maturity of leaves), whereas the rest visited the nectaries only temporarily. Most common, and assembling in the highest abundances with a maximum number of 65 ants, was a single unidentified species of the genus Dolichoderus. This species was only found on the shoots of Leea in secondary forest. In declining order in terms of the number of shoots occupied during the study, we found the genera Technomyrmex (two species), Crematogaster (five species), Tetramorium (three species), Polyrhachis (four species,) and Camponotus (one species). In general, about 10–20 ants assembled at the extrafloral nectaries, except of big ants from the genera Polyrhachis and Camponotus, where normally less than five individuals were assembled. During heavy rain showers, ants used to leave the shoots or seek shelter beneath the plants’ leaves. In general, only one species occupied a shoot at a time. Only rarely, two or three species at a time were observed using the same food source on the shoots. Ants of the genus Polyrhachis were the most dominant, but also the genus Dolichoderus and species of Crematogaster rank among the dominant species. In rare cases of two or three ant species at a time, the dominant species defended the nectaries against submissive species, mostly small species of the genera Tetramorium and Crematogaster, which were frequently observed to sneak in. Occasionally, the ant species composition on a plant changed, sometimes even several times over the study period. Most of the ant species associated with Leea manillensis showed a diurnal as well as nocturnal activity pattern. Species of the genus Polyrhachis showed a strictly diurnal activity, while the single species of the genus Camponotus was observed only at night-time. Some photographs of Leea manillensis and associated ant species are shown in Online Resource 1. Further arthropods During the daily monitoring, besides ants and the parasitoid wasp, a number of other arthropod species were frequently 123 observed on the shoots of Leea manillensis. Of these, the most common visitors were weevils (Curculionidae), peacock flies (Tephritidae), a variety of Orthopterans, planthoppers (Fulgoroidea; Auchenorrhyncha), leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), and spiders (Aranaeae). Peacock flies were only feeding at the EFN, spiders were also seen hunting. The rest, besides feeding on the EFN, was mainly observed damaging the young leaves. Ants used to tolerate most of these species. In particular, weevils were tolerated even at the extrafloral nectaries. Some photographs of further arthropod species on Leea manillensis are shown in Online Resource 4. Ant association and herbivory Two different kinds of shoot damage became apparent during the study. On one hand, there were single feeding incidents by a range of herbivores, sometimes lasting over several days. This type of damage was mainly caused by Orthopterans and leaf beetles with whole parts of the leaves missing, or by weevils with leaves perforated. However, these feeding events rarely caused damage exceeding 20 % leaf area loss. In contrast, in 25 % of the shoots (54 of 213), the loss of the whole shoot was observed caused by one or more unidentified herbivores. In many cases, we realized this to have occurred over night. Apparently, this kind of damage had the most important impact on Leea manillensis. Ant-free shoots suffered a significantly greater loss of leaf area than ant-associated shoots (Fig. 1). The total shoot loss, recorded as 100 % of leaf area lost, played a significant role. 57 % of the plants not associated with ants suffered from a total shoot loss, compared to only 8 % of ant-associated plants. A re-analysis without the samples of Fig. 1 Loss of per cent leaf area in ant-associated (n = 89) versus ant-free shoots (=91) of Leea manillensis. Differences are significant Mann–Whitney U test: p \ 0.001. 100 % leaf area loss corresponds to a total shoot loss Author's personal copy Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis… complete shoot loss revealed no differences in general damage in both groups (Fig. 2). The parasitoid wasp of the genus Chalcura: observations and experimental results Oviposition Female wasps of the genus Chalcura were frequently observed to place their eggs into the stipule of the plants shoots close to the stipules’ extrafloral nectaries. These large stipular structures enclose and protect the next generation of leaves in an early developmental stage. Whenever the arrival of a female wasp was observed, the wasps never directly landed on the stipule, but on a leaf close to it. After a period of a few minutes, meanwhile probably observing the shoot, the wasps directly walked or flew to the stipule. During these observed ovipositions, which lasted about 1 h up to maximum of 2 h, the female wasp placed masses of eggs directly into the closed stipule without changing the position. During the 3 months of monitoring Leea manillensis, a total of 136 females were observed to oviposit into the stipules of 66 plants, indicating single plants to be utilized repeatedly and often simultaneously by two, three, or even four females (Online Resource 2). On 25 out of 66 plants over a period of a few days up to 2 weeks, wasps repeatedly were observed to oviposit into the plants stipule. Experimentally opening those stipules, we found the undeveloped young leaves to be embedded in masses of eggs (Online Resource 2). Out of 136 observations of oviposition, 128 took place on ant-free shoots. Only eight wasps were observed on ant- Fig. 2 Loss of per cent leaf area in ant-associated versus ant-free shoots. Data from Fig. 1 re-analysed, but cases with complete shoot loss excluded. Then, no longer resulting in difference in leaf damage (Mann–Whitney U test: p = 0484.) occupied shoots. Four of them were either not noticed or ignored, one wasp was killed and three were chased away by assembling ants. Occasionally, female wasps were observed to feed at the extrafloral nectaries. Infestation with planidia and loss of leaf area Out of 213 experimental shoots, a total of 53 % were infested with planidia (n = 114). The parasitoid wasp had a massive effect on Leea manillensis, its association with ants, its shoot development and survival. Only 19 % of shoots infected with planidia were visited by ants, compared to 68 % of uninfected shoots (Fig. 4). Shoots infested by planidia had a significantly higher loss of leaf area than planidia-free shoots. Again, the total loss of the shoot due to herbivory was responsible for most of the differences between the two groups. In planidia-infested shoots, the incidence of a complete shoot loss was almost 10 times higher than in those not infested, with 38 % compared to only 4 % (Figs. 3 and 4). Observations on the wasp biology and its influence on ants Shoot development was strongly affected on planidia-infested plants. In 38 % of the observed plants, the planidia hatched synchronically with the shoot expanding, with no visible harm to the young leaves. In 62 % of infested shoots, the mass eclosion of planidia apparently affected the stipules’ tissue. In these cases and probably depending on shoot size, its stage of development and the number of planidia hatching inside the shoots suffered from different kinds of shoot damage (Online Resource 3). Fig. 3 Loss of per cent leaf area in Leea manillensis. Comparison between shoots infested with planidia (n = 114) and not infested shoots (n = 99). Mann–Whitney U test: p \ 0.01. 100 % leaf area loss corresponds to a complete shoot loss 123 Author's personal copy Christoph Schwitzke et al. Discussion Ants, EFN, and herbivory Fig. 4 Comparison of the two samples ‘planidia-infested’ (n = 114) and ‘not infested’ shoots (n = 99) of Leea manillensis in terms of a their average leaf area loss caused by herbivory, b their percentage of complete shoot loss caused by herbivory, and c their percentage of shoots with ant association Emerging planidia had a body length of about 0.13 mm and were found sitting in a typical lurking erected position on the expanding shoot, most often in high abundances, concentrating on the area around the stipule and its nectaries (see Online Resource 2). In this early stage, often dead ants were found hanging on strands attached to the shoot. Those ants always had planidia on them. This observation was made for most of the common ant visitors. In the following days of observation, the number of planidia on the shoot declined, either due to them getting carried away by foraging ants or other visitors, or by actively spreading over the whole plant by moving along strands. The infestation with planidia caused a complete loss of ant association after a short time. Ants then actively avoided the shoot. Planidia taken to the field station in vials survived up to 3 weeks without food intake. Ants placed into the vials immediately showed an intensified, but apparently inefficient cleaning behaviour. After a short time, first locomotive dysfunctions were observed, followed by immobility connected with a typical twitch of legs and antennae. In the final state, ants did not show any vital signs at all. With fresh planidia and small ant species of the genera Crematogaster, Technomyrmex, or Dolichoderus, this state was reached in 10–30 min. In big ant species like Polyrhachis, it took up to 1 h. The planidia were preferentially situated at the soft parts of the ants between the segments, probably feeding and apparently gaining body mass. Apart from that, there were always some larvae showing the typical lurking position on the ant’s bodies. Photographs of the ant-parasitoid wasp and effects on Leea manillensis and associated ants are given in Online Resources 2 and 3. 123 Our results show that Leea manillensis consists of a highly variable system, shaped by a number of factors. We could confirm that it has mutualistic interactions with ants attracted by extrafloral nectaries and food bodies. Ants provided a certain degree of protection. However, the indirect defence mechanism via ants turned out to be very fragile, dependent on different conditions that influenced the magnitude of the beneficial effect of ants on plants (see also Rico-Gray et al. 2012). We found no evidence of any specific relationship between Leea and the attracted ants. Meng et al. 2011 describe similar conditions in the species Leea glabra (Leeaceae) growing in South China. The broad range of ant species observed to visit the extrafloral nectaries is consistent with a pattern typically found in many facultative ant–plant associations and indicating a low specificity (Fiala et al. 1994; Kessler and Heil 2011). Not only did we find a broad range of ant species, but also a high intraspecific variability in the abundance of ants assembling at the extrafloral nectaries. Only 36 % of the observed shoots showed a permanent presence of ants perhaps due to varying EFN production of the plants. In general, variability is quite common in facultative ant– plant systems (Horvitz and Schemske 1984), and different abiotic and biotic factors may have massive effects on species interactions (Thompson 1999), directly influencing the outcome of ant–plant–herbivore mutual effects and determining the benefit for the plant (e.g. Ness et al. 2006; Rosumek et al. 2009; Pires and Del-Claro 2014). Nonetheless, myrmecophily in plants evidentially is an adaptive mechanism of defence (e.g. Heil and McKey 2003). In this study, we are able to show that ant attraction by the production of EFN on shoots significantly increased the chances of shoot survival of Leea manillensis. Certainly, herbivory pressure is an important parameter for Leea and a critical selective factor as reported for many plant species (e.g. Vasconcelos 1991; Karban and Agrawal 2002). While the average herbivore damage on the shoots, with \20 % leaf area loss, was probably tolerable for the plant, the phenomenon of complete shoot loss played a considerable role: 57 % of the shoots without notable ant occupation suffered a total shoot loss, in contrast to only 8 % in ant-occupied shoots. In Leea manillensis, the large stipule offers the biggest nectaries and is the part of the shoot with the highest rate of ant visitation. The optimal defence theory (McKey 1974) predicts that a plant should optimize its defensive investment according to the organs’ current and future value and its likelihood of attack (reviewed in Heil 2008). In Leea, the defensive investment Author's personal copy Eucharitid ant-parasitoid affects facultative ant-plant Leea manillensis… and its focus on the shoots’ stipule corresponds with its high risk of attack. Beyond that, the successful attraction of ants to the stipules offered protection to an even more important enemy, not only directly harming the shoots, but also indirectly by affecting the defensive function of the ants for Leea manillensis. Influence of the parasitoid wasp The ant-parasitoid wasp focused on the stipules of Leea manillensis for egg deposition. A broad range of plant hosts and different types of plant tissue have been reported as a depot for eggs in other Eucharitid ant-parasitoids: seeds, flower buds, flower stems or young fruits, leaves or young shoots (Heraty 1985, 1994; Varone and Briano 2009; Carey et al. 2012). In Leea manillensis, the stipule that encloses the next generation of shoot is the spatial focus of investment into defensive mechanisms via EFN and FB. Obviously not general herbivores are the most damaging threats for Leea manillensis in the study area, but the specialized ant-parasitoid. The hatching planidia had a massive impact on the whole ant–plant–herbivore system. In our study, about 53 % of the plants’ shoots were observed to be infested with planidia. All of the common ant visitors at the extrafloral nectaries strictly avoided the shoots after the eclosion of the wasps’ larvae. That might explain why we noticed planidia to leave the shoot and disperse. The avoidance of shoots and the observed aggressive behaviour of ants towards adult wasps indicate that the ants were able to recognize this parasitoid as a threat. On 81 % of the planidia-infested shoots, ants were never observed to visit the extrafloral nectaries. Our observations suggest that this avoidance finally led to a cessation of EFN secretion in most of the shoots. Hence, the avoidance of planidia directly resulted in a lasting lack of ants on the shoots, which then caused an almost 10-fold increase in complete shoot losses compared to the unaffected shoots. On the other hand, the presence of ants had a great effect on the behaviour of the parasitoid wasp. Low presence of ants enhanced the risk of egg deposition on the plant, often leading to a vicious circle hard to overcome. Successful ovipositions into the stipule in the presence of ants were very rare. Half of all observed attempts in the presence of ants were interrupted due to very aggressive ant behaviour. In the Eucharitidae, a high host specificity is assumed as well as a certain amount of co-evolution with a particular ant host subfamily (Heraty 2002). We found no evidence that the parasitoid wasp on Leea manillensis had its focus on a specific ant species, genus, or subfamily. In the contrary, we observed a broad range of ant species to get attacked and killed by the planidia, but have no information about the effect of the parasitoid on the ant colony level. As far as it is known, hatching planidia are carried into the colony via foraging ants (Pérez-Lachaud et al. 2006; Lachaud and Perez-Lachaud 2012). On Leea, the number of larvae on the shoots declined over time, and we observed planidia to spread over the whole plant along strands. We assume but do not know whether they were carried away by ant foragers. So far, the attack of adult ants has not been reported for the family Eucharitidae. In our experiments with planidia and different ant species, all of the ants died quite fast. On Leea, we found foraging ants killed and attached to leaves and stems. Ants tend to keep foraging trails free of dead nestmates to avoid disease transmission (e.g. Wilson et al. 1958). Besides lurking on the shoot and other plant parts, lurking on corpses might be another way to ensure a contact with foraging ants. Access to ant colonies might also occur via alternate hosts (Heraty et al. 2004). As we observed the planidia to attack all kinds of insects in the vial experiments, they might indeed use a number of different taxa of insect prey as a transport vehicle. However, the killing of potential host ants foraging on the plant does not fit to what is known so far about phoretic behaviour of the Eucharitidae. At this point, we could only speculate what strategies planidia might use to gain access to the ant host colony. A growing number of studies provide support for topdown influence on ant community, coexistence, and structure in the form of behavioural responses to parasitoids, although they were yet only reported from dipteran parasitoids (e.g. Feener 1981; Morrison 2000; LeBrun 2005, Feener 2000). Parasitoids not only pose the direct threat of mortality but also provoke a behavioural response of ants, consisting of an alteration of their foraging behaviour. This interaction modification (Wootton 1994) not only affects the defensive function of the ants for the plants, but may also change interactions among competing ant species, in which the presence of the parasitoid indirectly affects the abundance of species. Further investigations should focus on the effects of this parasitoid on different ant species visiting the plant. The unexpectedly strong influence of this parasitoid on the ants and plant in our study shows for a first time that top-down processes might be very important for different trophic levels in facultative ant–plant mutualisms. Acknowledgments The study was generously supported by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). We are very grateful to the Philippine NGO PhilinCon and the staff of the research station Sibaliw for their support, especially Benjamin S. Tacud jr. and Junmar E. Jamangal. We thank the PASU Rhodel B. Lababit (DENR) for the generous permission to work at the NW Panay Natural Park. 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Ecology 75:151–165 123 Appendix 5 Flight Styles in some Passerines By Eberhard Curio1 Abstract. – Semi-quantitative observations of the circumstances account under which bounding flight and steady (flapping) flight are performed by two forest-dwelling passerines of two different lineages (Pycnonotidae, Philippine Bulbul Hypsipetes philippinus; Paridae, Great Tit Parus major) in free flight. Bounding flight is one of two intermittent flight styles, to the exclusion of undulating flight, in passerines weighing ≤100g. A new bounding flightspeed relationship is apt to shed light on the power output of bounding flight. In line the function found in most flying animals for metabolic energy expenditure against speed the relationship support a flattened J-curve as compared to U-shaped curve found in some birds; this is based on the monotony of the parameters of bounding as a function of speed. Whether bounding flight is saving energy as proposed by the work of Rayner et al., and of Tobalske in tunnel wind experiments, would depend to the kinematics of flight in free-flying birds such as the Bulbul and the Tit. – Further observations demonstrate that both steady flight and bounding flight are used in foraging and in chases of two birds of the same species, whilst ‘mock’ prey capture and ‘group acrobatics’ in the Bulbul are tentatively assigned a training role serving prey capture and predator evasion, respectively. – Observations of Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) support the idea of flapping flight changing abruptly into the still phase of bounding flight and is therefore consistent with ’body morphing’ in the Bulbul. Keywords: Flight style, passerines, bounding flight, functional significance, Philippines, training flight. Eberhard Curio, Conservation Biology Unit, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany; Tel. No. +49-(0)234-3222858. Email: [email protected] Introduction Of two intermittent flight modes, the undulating flight and the bounding flight (Welty & Baptista 1988, Moore & Birkhead 1991), only the latter is exercised by the three passerines closely observed in the field. Their body masses fall well within the range ≤100g for the two flight modes to be expected on theoretical grounds (Rayner 1985, Rayner et al. 2001, Tobalske 1995, 2001). Speed of flight as an all-important determinant associated the number of flight parameters. For two of the three species, namely the Philippine Bulbul (Hypsipetes philippinus) (B.) and the Great Tit (Parus major) (T.), correlations of speed with other flight parameters are observed that can shed light to the energetics of flight. Based on their various models of bounding flight in the wind tunnel (Tobalske 1995, 2001) and mathematical models (Rayner 1985, Rayner et al. 2001) the semi-quantitative observations of free-flying passerines are apt to contribute to the functional explanations of flight. They can account for details of bounding, e. g. depth and width of the ‘valleys’, they lack the a quantitative assessment of the number of wing beats per flapping cycle but they can provide estimate of in relative terms of ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’. This is based of energy saving although 1 This paper in publication No. 93 of the ‘Panay Eco-Social Conservation Project’ (www.panaycon.org), the successor of PESCP. the interpretation of the models is marred by conceptual pitfalls enumerated the end of the Discussion. In a third species, the Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), observations of birds engaged in climbing flight shed to light on the phenomenon of ‘body morphing’ (Curio & Tacud 2009). Method The observational methods employed were ad libitum sampling of flight events (Martin & Bateson 1990). A flight event was defined as locomotion with the help of wings while hops bridging two short distances in the canopy were not. – Observations were recorded immediately they are seen, preferentially by drawing sketches with explanatory notes. A number those sketches had found in their way into the present paper. Flight Styles The Speed-Bounding Relationship. Bulbuls (B.) and Great Tits (T.) perform bounding flight or flap-bounding when traversing open terrain. Only rarely did they excise steady flight with continuous wing flapping. Only above a distance of ca 2m do who engage in bounding (Fig. 1, lower panel). Based on crude measurements, the following relationship is new: as the distance covered increases as the bird is lengthening bounding and simultaneously the amplitude of the bounds decreases. At the highest speeds the amplitude becomes so shallow that is hardly noticeable (Fig. 1, upper panel). In the B., the flight at high speeds occurred above the canopy, seldom through it. There are were mostly two birds flying following linearly each other, over long distances from the appearance in the canopy to their vanishing out of sight. Similarly the T. were observed to fly at the highest speed when commuting between an isolated nest tree and the nearest cover (Fig. 1, upper panel). The line of flight covered the shortest distance between the forest and the nest, or similarly when crossing a street. The number of wing beats per flapping cycle decreases at the highest speeds while the average wing beat frequency increases. This suggestion is consonant the Tobalske’s (1995) observation of free-flying European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in the wind tunnel. Horizontal flight involves bounding to a large extent. Short hops in all directions characterize movements in the canopy. When these moves go over longer distances they encompass bounding in upwards flights not exceeding a certain angle (see Fig. 2 below). Downward flights never employ bounding; they rather employ steady flights, except for the last stretch ending in a stall (‘Unterfliegungslandung’ Lorenz 1933). This upward movement is functioning as a brake at the end of a downward sweep. Moving within and outside of the Canopy. – As said, flights between trees and within closed canopy requiring the bird to reach out beyond (short) hops employ bounding. Bounding is performed at all angles below bounded by a climbing angle in steady flight involving climbs (Fig. 2). The border line between bounding flight upwards and climbing can be approximately inferred from the angles subtended from the vertical (Fig. 2); the bounding angle is measured by taking the line connecting the peaks of all ‘valleys’ against the vertical. The angle of climbing is measured similarly by translating the distances of the sketches into real-world measurements. In a crude approximation the bounding angle and the climbing angle when subtended from the vertical measured about 45° and 5°, respectively. If bounding is believed to save energy (Rayner 1985) this style is superior to steady flight involved in climbing. - At rare occasions climbing flights occur at larger angles in the distance is considerable and the bird is traversing open ground as compared to the relatively short climbs in the canopy. This is probably driven by fear from accipitrine hawks. And tits had been shown at bound at steep angles close to 5° (Moore & Birkhead 1991). Hence, the two flight styles may overlap in bounding/climbing angle. Sometimes a bird is performing a steady flight over longer distances. This occurs in the pursuit of slow flying insects, or, two birds are following each other (Fig. 3). Why is the steady flight in chases replacing bounding? The flights suggest that they are birds use chasing when at home. Their behaviour is superficially different from the extended chases over long distances almost always above the canopy under over open terrain. A pair of T. the behaved of a to the birds expecting predation (Fig. 1). Bulbul-specific Flight-styles. – Unique chases of 3-6 individuals in a group start invariably high up in the canopy and end low above the ground, or, when horizontally oriented, in another part of the canopy (Fig. 4 a). Chases start and end abruptly, going over about 15-25 m. The flight-style is steady as sketched in one of several birds of a group (Fig. 4 a). There is no sign of hostility, or any calling. The group acrobatics rise at fruiting trees that are harvested. – The one other flight-style the driven by foraging (Fig. 4 b). The B. performs, always in steady flight is that allow maneuverability, loops in flycatcher-style to return back to the vantage point. It is always clear whether an insect has been captured on the wing. The hawking-style of flight is certain in the T. as well and when conspicuously foraging on moths. – A problematic flight-style is seen during ‘mock’ prey capture on the wing (Fig. 4 c). In steady flight is following a each twist of a ‘perceived’ insect on the wing. The twisted flight and the steady flight-style suggest the bird is following a real or virtual insect, but other interpretations cannot be ruled out (see Discussion). Like many passerines B. and T. can hover. The cherry-like fruit of Ficus benjamina is largely plucked while hovering. Tree Sparrows adjust the Duration of Climbing. – The body-morphing hypothesis hold the bounds of the bounding flight-style can be give way the still phase with wings folded (sleeked) against the body at a point of time. This is important for passing to narrow openings in dense foliage (Curio & Tacud 2009). Consonant with this timing is the another flight-style in climbing to used to overcome an obstacle. Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) adjust the duration of a climb in steady flight to pass over a vertical fence regardless of the start point of the climb, or, regardless of the climb angle (Fig. 5). This performance shared the bodymorphing the abrupt change from flapping flight to a still phase during a descent to the ground. Discussion The Mechanism and Function of intermittent Flight. – Of the two types of intermittent flight styles, the undulating flight and the bounding flight, the B. and the T. perform only the latter. The eases the discussion that will consider the bounding flight (= flap bounding) and the steady flight with continuous flapping. The thrust of the present paper is the demonstration of the monotonous, multi-dimensional relationship between bounding flight and speed (Fig. 1). The European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) perform two flight-styles, i. e. undulating flight and bounding flight. Authors (Rayner et al. 2001, Tobalske 2001, 1995) had unanimously asserted the flap-bounding replaces flap-gliding only at high speed. The relationship of bounding and speed in two unrelated passerines, in the B. and the T., has leads to serious repercussions on the power output as the function of flight speed. Based on a mathematical model Rayner (1985) proposed the birds, with body masses of ≤100g (Tobalske 2001), bounding save energy only at high speeds. This would in line with the observation of the replacement of undulating by bounding mentioned above. What that happens a lower speeds? One it few consonant that bounding would saves energy by lifting the body and tail to extent to it reduces the costs of transport in the bird regardless of speed (Tobalske 2001), would not settle the issue. In tunnel wind experiments the flap frequency increased with speed. At the same time the energy output changed in a U-shaped curve as speed increases both in the European Starling and the Budgerigar (Rayner 1985, Tobalske 2001). The crucial observation come the present findings that the monotony of the speedbounding relationship. The monotonous change of the width and depth of the valleys, and the wing beats of the flapping cycle (Fig. 1), as a function of speed, argue against a U-curve of the energy output with flight parameters. This leaves the flattened J-curve as the logical alternative. The basic tenet of Rayner (1985) that intermittent flight-styles have been evolved as energysaving mechanisms not either refuted not supported by the results. Support has from electromyographic experiments by Tobalske (1995). He found in the Starling that in the nonflapping phase certain muscles (M. pectoralis, M. supracoracoideus) are resting. In this way, muscles would be optimally functioning in that energy could be saved. This rests on the assumption that during the flapping phase the saving not offset by an increase of power output thereafter. Thus, the support is not equivocal. Other Flight-styles of Bulbuls. – Three other flight-styles demand a high level of control and employ therefore continuous flapping (Fig. 4 a). One style is unique that is involves a highly coordinated maneuver of at least 3-6 individuals chasing each other and ever colliding in the chase. The chases downward kept close to a mature tree, or, beneath the canopy when horizontally oriented. (Quite often two birds were closely chasing in each other through the canopy, but then calling characteristically.) – Rarely a single bird was seen following a twisted path if with to capture an insect of the wing (Fig. 4 c). The flight-style was steady flapping. It cannot be excluded that chases were ending in success. However, firstly, the path followed ended that it begun, in steady flight; secondly, there was not visible swallowing of an insect. Therefore I classify the group acrobatics and the ‘mock’ prey capture tentatively as training to avoid aerial predators and exercising foraging, respectively. Conceptual Difficulties. – The bird flight is a multi-purpose method of locomotion. A functional interpretation is therefore fraught with conceptual difficulties. That bird flight is adaptive and, hence, can be investigated by methods that appear stringent as ideas underlying causation of traits (Curio 1973; Endler 1986). The levels of explanation, the mechanistic (proximate) and the functional (ultimate), are sharply is to be discriminated. Bounding flight was functionally explained by Rayner (1985) he suggested to saving of energy at very high speeds (functional explanation), leaving open the question happens as lower speeds. In the same paper this is concluded that bounding to due to ‘conflicting constraints imposed by physiology and mechanics of flying birds’ (proximate explanation). The naturalistic observation about bounding as presented here support the model in regard to a functional explanation. In a second paper Rayner et al. (2001) stuck to the energy saving hypothesis, in couched in new terms, but mixed it with terms of proximate explanations. Based on different arguments the authors concede the bounding to be have evolved functionally in response the ‘flight performance optimization’, for instance against pressure of predation; this is a sub-goal of optimization. To fully understand bounding one needs to study it functionally and proximately. The study of function has taught us to look for more than just one function: a behaviour may serve multiple goals (Curio 1973). Our understanding of the mechanics of intermittent flight has been tremendously promoted through models and experiments of Rayner et al. (2001) and Tobalske (1995, 2001) but has it lacks direct predictions springing from alternative hypotheses. Progress will be made by 1) not mixing conceptually proximate and ultimate explanations; or, 2) formulating hypotheses thought to be exclusively designed while a hypothesis while in fact it embodies of the another; or, 3) by looking for support of a hypothesis is one species by it testing with a different species. ‘Body-morphing’ further supported. – The flight maneuver consists of the precise timing of folding the wings when passing through a bird net with impunity (Curio & Tacud 2009). ‘Body-morphing’ rests on the assumption that the flapping phase the interrupted at any moment to give way to the still phase. A corroborating observation is found in the climbs of Tree Sparrows over a fence (Fig. 5): regardless where the climbing with steady flight started and reached the summit of the ascent, can they stop any moment before descending of the other side of the fence. This observation falsifies the idea that flapping can be performed only fixed time intervals. Zusammenfassung. – Sperlingsvögel (Passeriformes) vollführen einen Bogenflug, einen von zwei Flugstilen, bei dem aktive Flatterphasen mit passiven Phasen bei angelegten Flügeln einander zu ablösen, und einen stetigen Flug (steady or flapping flight). Wie die von Theorie voraus gesagt, eignet der Bogenflug Vögeln von weniger als 100 g Körpergewicht. Semiquantitative Beobachtungen lassen die Umstände beschreiben, unter denen bei zwei frei lebenden Arten (Pyconotidae, Philippinen-Bülbül Hypsitetes philippinus; Paridae, Kohlmeise Parus major) der eine oder der andere Flugstil auftritt. Eine neue Beziehung zwischen Eigenschaften des Bogenflugs, der Fluggeschwindigkeit, und zurücklegenden Distanz wird graphisch geschrieben und lässt Aussagen über den Kraftaufwand des Bogenflugs zu. Entsprechend den Befunden bei den meisten fliegenden Tierarten gehorcht der metabolische Energieaufwand als Funktion der Fluggeschwindigkeit einer flachen JKurve im Vergleich zu einer U-Kurve wie bei den anderen Vögeln; dies erhellt aus der Monotonie des Bogenflug-Geschwindigkeits-Relation. Ob der Bogenflug Energie spart, wie Rayner et al. aufgrund mathematischer Modelle voraus sagen, und solchen von Tobalske in Windtunnel-Versuchen, würde von der Kinematik des Fluges bei freifliegenden Vögeln wie dem Bülbül und der Kohlmeise abhängen. Begriffliche Schwierigkeiten der Erklärung aufgrund funktionaler oder kausaler Betrachtung besonders von Modellberechnungen oder Versuchen werden aufgezeigt. – Weitere Beobachtungen zeigen sowohl Bogenflug oder auch stetiger Flug bei der Nahrungssuche, auch bei Jagden zweier Vögel derselben Art (Bülbül) wie auch der ‚Scheinjagd‘ nach Fluginsekten sowie bei ‚Gruppen-Flugspielen‘ des Bülbüls werden geschrieben. ‚Scheinjagden‘ und ‚Gruppen-Flugspielen‘ werden hypothetisch als Flüge zu zum Training des Insektenfanges bzw. des Feindschutzes funktional gedeutet. – Beobachtungen von Feldsperlingen (Passer montanus) stützen die Hypothese, dass der stetiger Flug unmittelbar in die passive Phase des Bogenflugs übergehen kann und damit das Modell des ‚body-morphing‘ beim Durchfliegen enger Hindernisse stützt. Acknowledgements This study of the PanayCon was conducted under the aegis of a Memorandum of Agreement between DENR (Dept. Environment and Natural Resources, Quezon City) and PhilinCon and the support by PAWB/DENR Director Dr. M. Lim, DENR Reg. VI Regional Executive Director Julian Amador, his successor RED Jim O. Sampulna, and DENR Park Superintendent Rhodel Lababit is gratefully acknowledged and is as the collaboration the University of the Philippines, President Hon. Alfredo E. Pascual and Vice-Chancellor of Administration Prof. Maragtas Amante. Vital support came from the Frankfurt Zoological Society (CEO Dr. C. Schenck, Asia Superintendent Dr. A. Müllner), the Bird Protection Committee (President Prof. Dr. E. Schneider), the Bird Research and Conservation Foundation (President E. C.), the Erwin-Warth-Stiftung (President Hilde Stühlinger), Rettet den Regenwald [Save the Rainforest] (R. Behrend), A. M. de Dios, Oskar Lopez and other donors. Further assistance was rendered by PanayCon staff Dr. E. Sanchez Jr. (President PhilinCon), and most circumspectly by J. Tacud, E. Geronimo and J. Jamangal at the Research Station ‘Sibaliw’. References Curio E (1973) Towards a methodology of teleology. Experientia 29: 1045-1058 Curio E & Tacud J (2009) ‘Body morphing’ enables forest dwelling birds to master dense foliage with impunity: a novel avian flight performance. (Ökol Vögel) Ecol Birds 31: 1-12 Endler J A (1996) Natural selection in the wild. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, New Jersey NJ Martin P & Bateson P (1990) Measuring behaviour. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, New York, Port Chester, Melbourne, Sydney. 4th ed. Moore M & Birkhead T (1991) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology. Univ Press Cambridge, Cambridge Lorenz K (1933) Beobachtetes über das Fliegen der Vögel und die Beziehungen der Flügelund Steuerform zur Art des Fluges. J Ornithol 81: 107-236 Rayner J M V (1985) Bounding and undulating flight in birds. J theor Biol 117: 47-7 Rayner J M V, Viscardi P W, Ward S & Speakman J R (2001) Aerodynamics and energetics of intermittent flight in birds. Amer Zool 41: 188-204 Tobalske B W (1995) Neuromuscular control and kinematics of intermittent flight in the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). J Experimental Biology 198: 1259-2273 Tobalske B W (2001) Morphology, velocity, and intermittent flight in birds. Amer Zool 41: 177-187 Welty J C & Baptista L (1988) The Life of Birds. Saunders, New York. 4th ed. Legends Fig. 1. Bounding or bound-gliding related to amplitude and distance flown in the Philippine Bulbul (B.) and the Great Tit (T.). Flight speed is related to distance and increases from bottom to top. – A pair of T. commuting over 30m between the nest box and the nearest forest. – Long distance flight in the B. over non-familiar home range. Note: Distance flown with small deviations to the right or left superimposed on the flight path. Dashes along the flight path symbolize schematically single wing flaps in this and the following figures, with inter-dash intervals indicating speed, not necessarily wing beat frequency (that in the European Starling wing flaps increase linearly with speed [Tobalske 2005]). Fig. 2. Movements within and between portions within the familiar home range in the B. Conditions for bounding vs steady flight (steep climb), and of almost any steady flight over the longer distances, also within familiar home range. Fig. 3. Continuous flapping flight at highest speed to capture an insect on the wing, or, two of B. chasing each other, following the same flight path. Fig. 4. Chases (‘acrobatics’) of 3-6 B. in steady flight, with path varying from horizontal vs vertical, different observations (a). – Chasing insects on the wing (‘hawking’) (b). ‘Hawking’ with twists all a long the full length to the flight path (c). Fig. 5. Climb by Tree Sparrow Passer montanus: ascent to overcome a fence from various distances, then descending with bounding flight on the other side of the fence. The ascent starts from any distance from the obstacle while the landing point (the same in the case) stays the same. Abb. 1 Abb. 2 Abb. 3 Abb. 4 Abb. 5