FAUNA SURVEY REPORT FOR CULION MUNICIPALITY September 2006 Prepared for: PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Palawan Center for Sustainable Development Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines 5300 Email: [email protected] Tel.: (63-48) 434-4235, Fax: 434-4234 Funded through a loan from : JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Prepared by: PACIFIC CONSULTANTS INTERNATIONAL in association with ALMEC Corporation CERTEZA Information Systems, Inc. DARUMA Technologies Inc. Geo-Surveys & Mapping, Inc. Photo Credits: All photos by SEMP-NP ECAN Zoning Component Project Management Office This report can be reproduced as long as the convenors are properly acknowledged as the source of information Reproduction of this publication for sale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the written consent of the publisher. Printed by: Futuristic Printing Press, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines Suggested Citation: PCSDS. 2006. Fauna Survey Report for Culion Municipality Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page List of Tables iv List of Figures v List of Appendix Tables vi List of Appendix Figures vii Glossary of Terms viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 METHODOLOGY 1 2.1 Establishment of Transects and Recording Data 1 2.2 Collection and Processing of Specimens 2 2.3 Measurement of Species Diversity 3 2.4 Mapping of Core Zones 3 3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4 3.1 Location of Transects 4 3.2 Habitat Characterization 5 3.3 Fauna Inventory 8 3.4 Structure of Feeding Guilds 9 3.5 Altitudinal Distribution 10 3.6 Transect Diversity Indices 10 3.7 Value of Wildlife to Local Residents 11 3.8 Occurrence of Protected Species 12 3.9 Indicative Fauna Core Zones 13 4.0 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ISSUES 14 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 REFERENCES 16 APPENDICES 18 ________________________________________________________________________ iii LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title Page 1 Listing of Northern Palawan Wild Vertebrates and Tally of 8 encounter of Culion species 2 Percent Occurrence of Species by Feeding Habits of recorded 9 Terrestrial Fauna 3 Computation of Indices for all the Transects traversed in the 11 municipalities of Culion 4 Occurrence of Significant Protected Species in various 13 transects in Culion ________________________________________________________________________ iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. Title Page 1 Map of the Municipality of Culion showing Locations of 4 Fauna Transects (SPOT 5 Multispectral Satellite Image, 5- m resolution) 2 Mt. Sinangkan Peak at endpoint of BD2. 5 3 View of Mt. Susong Dalaga in Barangay Halsey (LHI) 7 4 A View of Barangay Lumber Camp along Transect LCI 7 5 Proposed Location of a Fauna Core Zone (yellow outline) 14 covering Barangay Halsey and Barangay Lumber Camp ________________________________________________________________________ v LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES Appendix Table No. Title Page 1 Checklist of Terrestrial Fauna in Northern Palawan 18 Province Indicating Records from Culion survey and their Feeding Guilds 2 Transect and Reference Points with Calculated Elevations 41 on Culion survey areas 3 List of Terrestrial Fauna Observed per Transect in the 42 municipality of Culion ________________________________________________________________________ vi List of Appendix Figures Appendix Figure No. Title Page Appendix Photographs of some Encountered Wildlife Species in 70 Figures A Culion Appendix Scanned Photographs of Possible New Records of Wildlife 78 Figures B Species occurring in Culion, Palawan ________________________________________________________________________ vii GLOSSARY OF TERMS Biogeographic Zone - delineated area where peculiar vegetation/wildlife species are found or distributed. Ecotone - convergence of two or more types of habitats. Edge Effect - ability to support larger and varied wildlife population along edges or boundaries where one kind of land use starts and another stops, than either adjoining community. Endangered species - taxa in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the causal factors continue operating. Indeterminate - taxa known to be endangered, vulnerable or rare but where there is not enough information to say which of the three categories is appropriate. Rare species - taxa that is usually localized within restricted range or habitats and presently not endangered, vulnerable but at risk. Vulnerable species - taxa in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely to move into the endangered category in the near future if the causal factors continue operating. Species dominance - condition in communities in which one or more species have considerable influence upon the existence of associated species. ________________________________________________________________________ viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This fauna survey in the municipality of Culion is part of the Research and Survey Component under ECAN Zoning of the Sustainable Environmental Management Project for Northern Palawan. The primary goal is towards the attainment of sustainable development in the area through appropriate use of land and coastal waters, natural resources, protection, conservation and rehabilitation of the natural environment. Specifically, this survey was designed to: 1) ascertain the occurrence and distribution of fauna resources in the area; 2) characterize the fauna resources; 3) provide inputs in the mapping of core zones; 4) provide recommendations to protect the rare, threatened and endangered species. A baseline fauna inventory was conducted in the municipality of Culion during the month of May 2003. The survey covered a total of 10 two-km transects from four barangay. Habitat types included primary and secondary forests, brushland and grassland areas, ricefields, bamboo stands, plantations and barren lands. Interviews with the local people provided additional information regarding the existence of wildlife within the survey sites particularly, the presence of threatened and other protected species. The survey revealed 80 species of fauna of which 66 are birds, 5 mammals and 9 are herps (amphibians and reptiles). This represents 22.1 % of northern Palawan’s recorded wildlife species. Thirty-one respondents were interviewed during the survey.. High indices of fauna diversity were evident in the following order of importance of habitat types: brushland-forest, agroforest-forest and forest-grassland. Altitudinal distribution of species did not show a clear pattern, however, in both study areas, the endangered Blue-naped and vulnerable Racquet-tail Parrots were found practically in all elevations. Insectivores and carnivores dominated among the listed fauna which could be interpreted as more prey species being available within the area. However, pollinators were least represented, suggesting that pollen resources are either limited or seasonal. Only one core zone was identified for Culion which was the entire barangay of Halsey. But this may expanded to include the whole lower peninsula. Destructive practices through kaingin and indiscriminate cutting of trees were major factors that contributed to the threatened status of a number of wildlife species including their respective habitats. Similarly, hunting by some local residents for food, pet and trading had brought about wildlife decimations. ________________________________________________________________________ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION The municipality of Culion is part of the Calamianes Islands and Cuyo-Agutaya Groups. Culion has a municipal water covering about 750 sq km or almost 75,000 hectares. It has a land area of 45,600 has and is second largest of the Calamianes Group of Islands in northern Palawan. There are patches of open canopy broadleaf lowland forest which are found along ridges and on flat areas. Culion is listed as one of the key conservation sites in the Philippines (Collar, et. al., 1999). Culion’s wildlife shares with Busuanga and Coron with most of the threatened and restricted-range birds (Mallari, et al., 2001), namely: • Palawan Peacock Pheasant (Polyplectron emphanum) • Blue-headed Racquet-tail (Prioniturus platenae) • Palawan Hornbill (Anthracoceros marchei) • Philippine Cockatoo (Cacatua haematurophygia) • Yellow-throated Leafbird (Chloropsis palawanensis) • White-vented Shama (Copsychus niger) • Palawan Blue-flycatcher (Cyornis lemprieri) • Blue-paradise-flycatcher (Tersiphone cyanescens) • Palawan Flowerpecker (Prionochilus plateni) Also included as important wildlife in Culion are the endangered Calamian Hog- deer (Cervus calamianensis) and the Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus). Found off Culion waters are populations of the Bottle-nosed Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The endemic and rare Philippine Discoglossid Frog (Barbourula busuangensis) is likewise recorded in the island. The need for alternative livelihood had brought local residents and migrants from poaching and encroachment of the island’s natural habitats. These had brought serious threats to its wildlife resources. Gathering of timber and other forest products had caused extensive deforestation. It paved the way for more areas that are rapidly converted to kaingin farms. Culion is listed as one of the second priority sites of the ECAN project. Core zone establishment is hoped to provide full protection of its wildlife and its habitat. The fauna inventory report is expected to generate data for this purpose. 2.0 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Establishment of Transects and Recording of Data A baseline survey was conducted