Plant Community Patterns and Herpetofauna Diversity in the Burned and Unburned Sites in Mt. Candalaga, Maragusan, Compostela Valley, Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the tree and herpetofauna profile in burned and unburned
sites in Mt. Candalaga,Maragusan,Compostela Valley, Philippines. A total of 12 transect plots were established, 6 transect lines in each study sites. This is limited on the assessment on the abundance and diversity of herpetofauna and trees species within the burned and unburned sites in Mt. Candalaga. Included are the present physical factors such as depth of litters, temperature and canopy openness. Our results indicate the unburned sites in Mt. Candalaga had greater number of tree species than the burned sites. Shorea contorta Vid.(140), Schefflera elliptica (Blume) Harms (139) and Ficus minahassae Teijsm & de Vr. Mig.(123) are the most abundant tree species in the burned sites while in the unburned sites Lithocarpus llanosi has the most number of individuals (64) followed by Shorea contorta Vid (57), Myristica cinnanomea King (45), Shorea negrosensis Fowx (44), and Macaranga mappa Muell. Arg (39). The most similar transects are transects 2 and 4 (67.6 %) in the burned sites while in the unburned sites transects 5 and 4 (60 %). The results of the Shannon index (H’) indicate the highest tree diversity was discovered in Transect 1 (3.21) in the burned sites while Site 3 (3.90) has the greatest number of species in the unburnd sites). The mean rank of unburned site (8.83) i greater than the burned site (4.17) which indicates that the unburned sites have much cover compared to the burned site. However, there is no significant difference in the temperature (p-value = 0.48) and depth of litters (p-value =0.48) of the burned and unburned site with a p-value that is less than 0.05. The ordinal scale indicates that Megophyrs stejgeneri and Ansonia muelleri were commonly observed while Hydrosaurus pustulatus is frequent