Immerse in Biodiverse

Say NO to Kaliwa Dam and YES to alternatives!

You read it right. The Kaliwa Dam would do more bad than good to our biodiversity, especially for our animal friends. Not only that, but note how this poses a threat to our fellow Filipinos. Rather than doing good, what this project may bring would be harmful to not only men but also our environment!

Read down the infographic below to discover more about this issue and help spread the word! Many solutions are possible if one chooses the right decisions as we help each other solve this crisis!

- Sandara Cortez

Being aware alone of the issues surrounding biodiversity is not enough. Geared towards dealing with the problem, one must initiate change in oneself or the community in which one lives. However, what are things that we can do to deal with this?

Well, look no further! Here are ten ways to protect biodiversity!

1. HELP THE BEES!
Bees pollinate nearly 90% of plant species, and they contribute to more than 35% of the world’s food supply, but they’re under threat from varroa mites. Plant scientists are developing cutting-edge crop protection products to help farmers control the mites and protect precious bee populations. Give pollinators an extra boost in your backyard by planting a variety of wildflowers and native plants to provide nectar that will bloom throughout the season. You can also build bee boxes for native bees to make their home.

2. PLANT LOCAL FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND VEGETABLES
Research the plants and vegetables that are local to your area and grow a variety. Each plant and vegetable helps to protect biodiversity and supports the vast ecosystem of your local area.

3. PROTECT NATURAL HABITATS
Human impact on the earth can have a devastating effect on biodiversity. Small steps, like keeping to walking paths and not stepping through flowers or crops, can help protect what is growing there.

4. TAKE A WALK
Climate change can have devastating consequences for biodiversity. Reducing your carbon footprint by taking the bus or walking can help protect it. Plant scientists are also working to combat climate change every day. One example is through innovative developments in conservation tillage, which uses less fuel and therefore reduces the emission of greenhouse gases.

5. CONSERVE YOUR WATER USE
Fresh bodies of water are essential to biodiversity. Reducing the amount of water you use by having a 5-minute shower or not running the water when washing up the dishes can help protect vital wetlands. Plant scientists are also working to help conserve by developing crop varieties that use less water.

6. REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE
Recycling lessens pollution by decreasing energy, electricity, and water consumption and the need for landfills. Not only can you recycle bottles and cans, but your local recycling center will usually allow you to recycle clothes, electrical goods, and batteries.

7. SUPPORT FARMERS
Farmers play a crucial role in conserving biodiversity. With the help of biotechnology and plant science, farmers can grow more food on the same amount of land. It takes the pressure off the need to convert natural habitats into farmland.

8. BUY LOCAL FOODS WHEN YOU CAN
Buying from your local farmer at a farmers’ market or through a farm stand gives you the ability to find out how your food was grown and learn what they are doing on the farm to help conserve biodiversity.

9. VISIT YOUR LOCAL BOTANICAL GARDEN
Botanical gardens are great for biodiversity conservation, as scientists can store, study, and grow plants in their native habitats. Visiting and donating to your local botanical garden will help them continue to protect and promote biodiversity.

10. EDUCATE YOURSELF AND THOSE AROUND YOU
Educating people about the importance of biodiversity conservation increases public awareness of the issue. As public awareness increases, people become more involved in caring about their environment.

Your efforts in saving biodiversity do not have to be massive from the get-go. Even your small acts of conservation would contribute immensely to our goal. Until then, let us continue doing what we can against these issues surrounding biodiversity!

- Eglyn Lopez

Over the years, biodiversity loss has been threatening life forms of all kinds. As a result, what was once a perfect, happy place, became a worn, damaged one.

Walls of texts may not be everyone's cup of tea, so here's a little comic for you for a change. Let's read into the story of Flora and Fauna!

- Angela Belle Golpo

Hi again readers! Immerse Biology here.

Happy Thursday folks! Weekends are once again near and it’s yet another day to discover new infos and facts about the Biodiversity in the Philippines. If you’ve been liking and following our page we assume that by now, you know how important biodiversity in our lives and how biodiversity is doing in our country, the Philippines. If you don’t? Make sure to like and follow our page to get notified!

We all know by now, that the Philippines is rich in biodiversity, composed of various flora and fauna. However, research has shown in recent years that the country has faced challenges in terms of protecting, conserving, and developing its biodiversity. In fact, because of the continued destruction of the country’s resources, there has been an increase in the number of endangered animal and plant species. That includes our Philippine eagle, tamaraw, and Philippine freshwater crocodile. Reaching a total of more than 700 hundred threatened species based on the national list of DENR.

Due to the management and unsustainable use of the country’s biodiversity, there is a possibility that it may lead to its destruction. Despite having rich biodiversity and the country being among the highest rate in discovering new species in the world. A large number of the Philippine plant and wildlife species are experiencing an alarming rate of destruction caused by human activities, habitat loss, climate change, and much more. Not to mention, because of the continuous destruction of habitats that provide shelter to the country’s biodiversity, almost 93% of the Philippines ’ forest cover has already been lost since the 1990s.

Although in recent years, according to research, the Philippines has reported several accomplishments while striving to bring its best effort in conserving and protecting biodiversity. The government’s program, in aiming to plant 1.5 million trees in 1.5 million hectares, has so far planted about 1.807 billion trees in 2.141 million hectares as of December 2019. Due to the increase in forest stock brought by the National Greening Program (NGP), the capacity to absorb carbon dioxide is expected to increase. Additionally, there’s a reduction in illegal logging in the country and an increase in the number of some endangered species.

Whew, hope you’re still reading, Anyway, let’s all remind ourselves to take care of our biodiversity because biodiversity is what feeds us and shelters us. Who are we to destroy it? If you made it this far, I assume you enjoyed it and if you did, invite your friends to like and follow our FB page for more infos and fun facts and make sure to share it!

See y'all tomorrow!

- Trinity Cuevas

Do You Know Your Bio's? Here is another tidbit for you today!

The Philippine Tarsier is also known as "mawumag" in Cebu while "magô" in Waray. It is commonly found in southeastern archipelago. Don't you know that tarsier's eyes are bigger than its brain? Tarsiers are an endangered species because whenever you try to touch it, they might try to commit su***de! So you must be careful and take caution.

When natural disasters such as typhoons, or earthquakes damage our own habitats, we humans ourselves destroy other habitats by logging and mining in the forest. How sad this truly is! Now, it seems that the saying of Confucius, "Don't do unto other's what you don't want other's to do unto you." was true! We believe that in every action, it has its own consequences. Species such as the Philippine Tarsier must be well preserves as well so that in the future, the next generation will be able to see them. They'll be able to see them physically and not only in pictures, as well as appreciating life in general. Why not look down below for the infographic to learn more about the Philippine Tarsier?

See you again for more tomorrow!

- Christine Sentillas

Have you all readied your diving gears? The wait is finally over!

Aside from being known for their beauty and their purpose for acting as a home for our aquatic wildlife, what more do we know about them? It's time that we dive into the depths of the waters to recognize and witness their wonders!

Coral reefs are important to the wildlife; they give protection to the wildlife, and serve as home to other species. They come in different shapes and sizes though their goal is the same and that is to protect other wildlife, and sometimes they are used for medicine for treating other sickness such as cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections and other diseases.

Coral reefs show us the beauty of the aquatic wildlife yet we destroy them ourselves. Coral reefs are depleting and they need to reproduce through coral gardening which uses fragments of corals from donor colonies or wild population that are generated by disturbances, though there are some negative effects, we still need to let them reproduce through coral gardening so that aquatic animals would have a place where they can be protected, but not only aquatic wildlife are getting protected by corals, corals protect coastlines from storms and erosion, provide jobs local communities, and offer opportunities for recreation.

The Coral reefs of the Philippines are the second-largest in Southeast Asia, which covers 26,000 square kilometers or 10,000 square miles. The reefs support extraordinary biodiversity, including more than 400 species of hard coral, 12 of which are unique to the area, and more than 900 species of reef fish.

Ready for another dive? Like, visit, and share our page and let's see each other again tomorrow!

- Liam Mangalindan

With the huge amount of recognition our country gets for being one of the most diverse in nature, yet ironically the Philippines is also one of the most endangered areas. What is the reason? Find out below!

The Philippines is in the sad position of being one of the most endangered areas while at the same time still remaining one of the most diverse areas on the planet. At the very least, one-third of the more than 9,250 vascular plant species native to the Philippines are endemic. Plant endemism in the Philippines is mostly concentrated at the species level. Gingers, begonias, gesneriads, orchids, pandans, palms, and dipterocarps are particularly high in endemic species. For example, there are more than 150 species of palms in the hotspot, and around two-thirds of these are found nowhere else in the world. Of the 1,000 species of orchids found in the Philippines, 70 percent are restricted to the hotspot.

Due to shooting and trapping, the Philippine eagle has been critically endangered for years. Despite the prevalence of strict laws, there are still cases of Philippine eagles being shot in forests. Philippine Eagle is found in four major islands in the Philippines and these are the islands of Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and Samar.

The Philippine eagles’ life expectancy ranges from 30 to 60 years. Two Philippine eagles were recorded to live for more than 40 years – one of them died on October 2016. The full-gown, female Philippine eagle named ‘Thor’ died due to old age. Among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird. It is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat resulting from deforestation in most of its range.

It is amazing to see life in this different perspective. Let's look more into these with our own eyes with our next post, so see you then!

- Ruby Consejo

Do You Know Your Bio's? Here is a little tidbit for you today!

Sustaining or replacing our country’s Flora and Fauna would be extremely expensive! It, therefore, makes economical and developmental sense to move towards sustainability. This adds to a greater species diversity that ensures the natural sustainability of all life forms.

Inspired by the quote? Let's see each other again soon if you want more!

- Jesse Sumalileng

We all know that the Philippines is one of the 17 'mega biodiverse' country in the world as stated in our yesterday's post. Now, let's dive deeper about that, and let's check it out!

The Philippines is a great location that has many natural resources for many species to live in. However, as time passes by, many factors are slowly affecting those species negatively. Kindly read the infographic below to know more about the Philippines' Biodiversity!

- Chynna Caballero Picana

Aaaaand we are live! Immerse in Biodiverse here!

In the coming days, we will post tidbits of information that may enlighten our readers on what it truly means to appreciate the beautiful biodiversity of the Philippines. We will be talking about issues that damage our biodiversity along with how you, a fellow Filipino, can help even in the simplest ways because every little act of kindness can help make a huge difference and offer great opportunities!

But, how is our biodiversity going along? How do we help the issues regarding our biodiversity if we don't even know about it? For our first day, we will be talking about that!

According to the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, the Philippines is one of the 17 "mega biodiverse" countries in the world. Imagine, we contain almost 70% of the Earth's plants and animals species. That is like, 2/3 of our world's biodiversity! How can this be? Well, mother nature has been kind to the Philippines as it was specially built for homes of many of these species. These diverse habitats provide various ecosystem needs for survival, such as food, water, and different energy sources.

The Philippines' Flora and Fauna include thousands and thousands of species. The flora group occupies over 8,000 flower species, whereas the fauna group has over 612 bird species alone! But what are these flora and fauna? If you noticed the hints, you guessed right! They are what defines both the Plant and Animal Kingdoms, respectively. Flora is Latin for "Goddess of the Flower," while Fauna is from Roman Mythology, where it is the name of the Goddess of Fertility.

There are many reasons why we must preserve our wildlife, especially here in the Philippines where one by one we are losing from each group. For one, our Flora and Fauna are vital to our human existence. They bring what we also need to survive, such as oxygen from plants for us to breathe, while animals help control the predatory different species that maintain the overall population of the Earth. They are part of the ecosystem as much as we humans are, as we are all interdependent. Another reason could be how many of these species are not found anywhere else in the world. Human activity can contribute to the loss of our animals and plants as industrial work increases day by day. The environment is a huge factor in maintaining the welfare of our ecosystem as this is all where we live and breathe.

Yet sadly, issues are bound to happen to such important aspects of life, as extinction has always been a constant problem during this time. Do not fear! If you enjoyed all these fun facts, tune in for more details and wait for updates here on our FB Page!

Until then, see you there!

- Michelle Mercado