Elaine Villanueva

CONserve-KAIGANGAN is a research program funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under the Grants-in-Aid (GIA) Program. The program has four interrelated project components with their respective objectives:

Project 1: Assessment of Biodiversity in Forest over Limestone Ecosystem

1. Determine plant diversity and vegetation structure in various habitat types in the forest over limestone;
2. Determine animal diversity associated with forest over limestone;
3. Identify functional attributes of the vegetation with its associated animal diversity; and
4. Analyze environmental factors influencing the prevailing structure of the biota.

Project 2: Ethnobotanical Survey, Usage Validation and Safety Assessment of Economically Important Native plants in Forest over Limestone Ecosystem

1. Provide an ethnobotanical account of the plants from forests over limestone areas with economic and cultural values utilized by the local community;
2. Validate documented applications through proximate composition analysis and secondary metabolite profiling; and
3. Assessment of possible risks of using plants through toxicity and mutagenicity testing.

Project 3: Taxonomic and Functional Diversity Profiling of Soil Rhizosphere Microbial Communities in Forest over Limestone Ecosystem

1. Isolate and cultivate selected ecologically important microbial groups;
2. Describe the taxonomic and functional diversity profile of bacterial and fungal community of soil rhizosphere samples using metagenomic analysis; and
3. Correlate the distribution and function of bacterial and fungal communities with existing physico-chemical parameters of the soil in relation to ecosystem health and conservation.

Project 4: Community-Based Conservation of Plants in Forest over Limestone Ecosystem

1. Engage the local community to survey and map the distribution of threatened plant species (with emphasis on mother trees/plants) for in-situ conservation purposes;
   
2. Strategize a community-based ex-situ scheme for germplasm conservation of threatened species with includes nursery establishment, studies on seedling propagation, and its distribution to different institutions;
   
3. Produce communication, education and public awareness (CEPA) materials for the conservation of forests over limestone; and
   
4. Develop an Indicative Conservation Plan for the selected forests over limestone areas of Samar Island.