Three students completed their thesis last April 4, 2018. Their study focused on the assessment of the impacts of eutrophication in the coastal waters off Puerto Galera. They used benthos (Giniel Tiongson), fish (William Dimalanta) and seagrass (Celestine Dalida) as bioindicators.
Giniel Mae Tiongson
giniel.tiongson@obf.ateneo.edu
William Dimalanta
bdim013@gmail.com
Celestine Dalida
celestine.dalida@obf.ateneo.edu
Celine Campos
campos.celine18@gmail.com
Celine completed her thesis last April 4, 2018. Her study focused on the assessment of the impacts of the 2016 El Nino on the growth of Sardinella gibbosa in the province of Iloilo.
Kayla Marie Castro
Research Assistant (completed December 2017)
Department of Environmental Science
Ateneo de Manila University
mkay.castro@gmail.com
Kayla is a graduate student currently taking up MS Marine Science, with a specialization in Marine Biology, at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She has also obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the same university.
Jumel Christian Nicha
jumel.nicha@obf.ateneo.edu
Jumel completed his M.Sc. degree. His thesis assessed the application of geochemical indices in the establishment of assessment and monitoring protocol for heavy metal contamination in mangroves.
John Charles Altomonte
johnnyaltomonte@gmail.com
Johnny graduated with a BSc degree in Environmental Science. His study focused on fish biodiversity in the mangrove – seagrass – coral continuum in Busuanga, Palawan.
Maria Rachelle Gallmann
maria.gallmann@obf.ateneo.edu
Crab Community state and activity in typhoon Haiyan hit mangrove forests in Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines (completed June 2016; Cum Laude)
Mangrove crabs (primarily of the families Sesarmidae and Ocypodidae), due to the effects of their activities on propagule consumption, leaf litter, and burrowing, are considered important ecosystem bio-engineers in mangrove forests. Therefore, the crab communities may play an important role in the recovery process of mangroves disturbed by a typhoon such that of Typhoon Haiyan. The thesis will examine the crab community characteristics (abundance, diversity, size/weight) and activity (burrowing and feeding) in mangrove sites in Bantayan Island with different gradients of typhoon damage. As the site consists of both natural and planted mangrove stands, a comparison of the crab community between these stands will also be made.
Christine Ghie Legaspi
christineghielegaspi@gmail.com
An Assessment of the Post-typhoon Correlation of Mangrove Seedling Regeneration and Sediment Characteristics in Bantayan Island, Cebu (completed June 2016)
Typhoon Haiyan brought storm surges and strong currents that greatly damaged the mangrove forests as well as the coastal communities depending on its ecosystem services. This study will evaluate post-typhoon mangrove recovery by examining the relationship of mangrove seedling regeneration and sediment status. Seedling regeneration will be measured through species abundance and diversity, survival and growth rate. Sediment properties that will be measured will include grain size, organic matter, temperature, pH, salinity, and redox. Data will be compared between planted and natural mangroves to test the hypothesis that natural mangrove stands recover faster than the planted mangrove stands.
Raisa Pandan
raisapandan@gmail.com
Using microbial community structure and activity as soil regeneration indicator in mangroves damaged by Typhoon Haiyan (completed June 2016; Magna Cum Laude)
The microbial communities in tropical mangrove ecosystems form the base of the mangrove food chain and continuously cycle essential nutrients and dissolved organic matter to make it available to higher organisms. Thus, there is a close relationship among microbial communities, nutrients and mangrove plants. In recent years, extreme weather events have been a cause of the destruction of mangrove ecosystems. This thesis seeks to use microbial community structure and enzymatic activity as indicators of soil regeneration in mangroves damaged by Typhoon Haiyan.
Anne Brigitte Lim
(Part-Time) Research Assistant (completed December 2015)
anne.brigitte.lim@gmail.com
Using the 210Pb dating method to evaluate the sedimentation rate and adaptation of Philippine mangroves against sea level rise
Sediment accumulation of a mangrove area may be traced back on a 100-year timeline using the 210Pb dating method. However, this approach has not yet been implemented on studies of mangrove ecosystems in the Philippines. This thesis will test the hypotheses that sediment accretion matches sea-level rise at four mangrove sites of the Philippine Islands that were hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan. Sediment accretion rate will be measured by using the 210Pb dating method. The results of this method will be validated by determining the 137Cs concentration of the samples. To test the hypothesis, sedimentation rates will be compared to local rates of sea-level rise to determine the forests’ adaptation (or vulnerability) to keep pace with sea-level rise.
Mangrove Ecology 