Reptile diversity in agroecosystem and ecotourism area of Aliwagwag Protected Landscape, Davao Oriental, Philippines
Paper Details
Reptile diversity in agroecosystem and ecotourism area of Aliwagwag Protected Landscape, Davao Oriental, Philippines
Abstract
The Philippines is a global biodiversity hotspot with various reptile species, but few is known about the reptiles in different habitats in Mindanao. To compared reptile diversity in agroecosystem and ecotourism site within the Aliwagwag Protected Landscape (APL), in Cateel, Davao Oriental, Philippine, this study was conducted on October, 2025. This study employed a three 10 x 100 m strip transect within each site along with the microhabitat search within the transect. Species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity, evenness, and diversity t-test were then analyzed using PAST version 4.03. The study documented 20 individuals under eight species and four families. The ecotourism site had more species (S= 7), higher diversity (H′= 1.699), and grеаtеr еvеnnеss (J′= 0.873) cоmраrеd to the аgrоеcоsуstеm (S= 3; H′= 0.736; J′= 0.670). Five species endemic to the Philippines were recorded, all of them in the ecotourism site. These included the Philippine sailfin lizard (Hуdrоsаurus рustulаtus), which is a vulnerable species. Diversity t-test showed a significant difference in reptile diversity between the two habitat type (p= 0.026). These findings highlight the importance of conserving habitat to protect the reptile species particularly the endemic species.
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Juliet Tilan Cervantes*, 2026. Reptile diversity in agroecosystem and ecotourism area of Aliwagwag Protected Landscape, Davao Oriental, Philippines. J. Biodiv. Environ. Sci., 28(6), 214-221.
Copyright © 2026 by the Authors. This article is an open access article and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.