TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................................... i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................... iii
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1
Background of Information ..............................................................................................1
Objectives of the Study ....................................................................................................2
Significance of the Study .................................................................................................3
Scope and Limitation .......................................................................................................3
Time and Place of the Study ............................................................................................3
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ......................................................................4
Diversity ...........................................................................................................................4
Diversity Measurement ....................................................................................................4
Diversity Index .................................................................................................................5
Shannon Diversity Index (H) ...........................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................7
Site Selection ....................................................................................................................7
Data Collection .................................................................................................................7
Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................8
Identification and Classification ....................................................................................10
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................12
Description of Study Site ..............................................................................................12
Identification and Classification of Trees .....................................................................15
Diversity of Flowering Trees in Ditumabo Mother Falls Aurora .................................22
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ......................................24
LITERATURE CITED ...................................................................................................26
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................27
Certification of Identification ........................................................................................27
Collection of Specimen and Data ..................................................................................28

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 I. INTRODUCTION

Background Information

Biodiversity of forest resource can support the lives of people where they depend

on it for livelihood, as well as conservation of forest can be developed as ecotourism that

generates income. However, biodiversity is now considered in critical level in order to

attain sustainable development whereas increasing world population contribute to the

degradation of natural resources like forests (Cabansag, 2016).

Trees are important part of the terrestrial ecosystem (Lowman, 2009) providing

essential habitat for a community of organisms. Leaves, flowers and fruits are seasonally

available. Trees stabilize the soil, help prevent desertification and have a major role in

climate control and in the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem balance

(Bellefontaine, 2002). Flowering trees are mostly used for timber purposes, but in the

present article the utility of trees with respect to their importance in restoring, reclaiming

and rejuvenating denuded and disturbed soils, their ecological, ecodevelopmental and

environmental use, and their educational and recreational value in gardening, landscaping

and bioesthetic planning is described. In addition, the importance of trees is discussed with

reference to their value as a source of sustenance: food, sugars, starches, spices and

condiments, beverages, fumitories, masticatories and narcotics, medicines, essential oils,

fatty oils and vegetable fats, waxes, soap substitutes, vegetable ivory, fodder, fuel,

bioenergy or biofuel, fertilizers, fiber, pulp and paper, tannins, dyes, rubber and other latex

products, gums, resins and cork (Seth, 2003).

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 However, human pressure on plant resources has led to the depletion of these

resources. In recognition of the growing severity of threats to biological diversity,

including plants, and the international nature of actions required to address the threats, as

well as the need to operationalize the principles of sustainable development in all countries

around the globe (Conference et al., n.d.).

According to the Framework for Philippine Plant Conservation Strategy and Action

Plan, the Philippine flora is composed of at least 14000 species, representing five percent

of the world’s flora. There are about 8000+ species of flowering plants or angiosperms, 33

species of gymnosperms, 1100 species of pteridophytes (Barcelona, 2002), 1271 species

of bryophytes, more than 3555+ species of fungi and molds, about 1355+ species of algae

(DENR-UNEP 1997; Villareal & Fernando 1999), and 790 species of lichens (Gruezo

1979).

About 5 to 8 percent of flowering plants are believed to be still undescribed. One

of the grandest waterfalls located in Aurora known as Ditumabo Falls (also known as

Mother Falls) was no known record of its plant diversity. The Ditumabo Falls stands at the

height of 140 feet. Its cold water gushes off from the highlands of Sierra Madre Mountain

Range, freefalling into a wide rocky basin which serves as an ideal pool for swimming.

Objectives of the study

Generally, the study aimed to determine the diversity of flowering trees in particular

areas in Ditumabo Mother Falls in Brgy. Ditumabo, Baler, Aurora, Philippines.

Specifically, the study aimed to:

1. Document, describe, identify and classify the representative forms of flowering

trees;

2
 2. Provide information on the abundance and occurrence of trees.

3. Prepare the herbaria for the collected specimens

Significance of the Study

The study provides information and serves as a guide on the different species of

flowering trees that was found in different areas in Ditumabo Mother Falls in Brgy,

Ditumabo, Baler, Aurora. This study provides how diverse the species of flowering trees

which attributes to the environmental condition of the Ditumabo Mother Falls which is

considered as one of the tourist spots in Baler, Aurora.

Scope and Limitation

This study was limited only to the 5 locations that were selected as the study site.

Diversity of trees was determined by quadrat random sampling.

Time and Place of the Study

The study was conducted from April 2019 to May 2019 at Ditumabo Mother Falls

in Brgy, Ditumabo, Baler, Aurora. Five stations were randomly selected for the study.

3
 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Diversity

The expansion of crop and pastoral land into semi-natural ecosystems is currently

the most prevalent form of land use change; it usually involves deforestation and or forest

degradation (Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2011).

Tree species diversity may or may not reflect the diversity of plant forms, but might

serve well as a preliminary indicator. The simple number of tree species is only one way

of looking at diversity. The idea of species richness has to do with how dominant a few

species are. Species richness is a relative term that refers to the number of species in a

community, and is directly associated with measuring the diversity of species in a given

area. A related term, evenness, is another dimension of diversity that defines the number

of individuals from each species in the same area. Together, these terms have been used to

describe species diversity patterns on Earth.

Diversity Measurements

Diversity is measured for three main reasons: (1) to measure stability to determine

if an environment is degrading, (2) to compare two or more environments, and (3) to

eliminate the need for extensive lists. Diversity indices provide important information

about the composition of a community and about species rarity and commonness in a

population. Measurements of species diversity are constantly being improved and or

critiqued by ecologists (Hurlbert, 1971) argued that species diversity itself is a

"nonconcept" and that theoretic results are not dependable. His view is that ecologists

4
should abandon the "poorly defined" idea of diversity completely, as well as diversity

indices, and rely more on direct observation (Soetaert and Heip, 1990) also argued that

species indices are not always accurate, but worked on finding a way to improve results.

Diversity index

A diversity index is a quantitative measure that reflects how many different types

(such as species) there are in a dataset, and simultaneously takes into account how evenly

the basic entities (such as individuals) are distributed among those types. The value of a

diversity index increases both when the number of types increases and when evenness

increases. For a given number of types, the value of a diversity index is maximized when

all types are equally abundant.

Shannon Diversity Index (H)

It refers to the accounts for both abundance and evenness of the species present.

The proportion of species i relative to the total number of species (pi) is calculated, and

then multiplied by the natural logarithm of this proportion (𝑙𝑛𝑝𝑖 ). The resulting product is

summed across species, and multiplied by -1

Low species diversity suggests:

1. relatively few successful species in the habitat

2. the environment is quite stressful with relatively few ecological niches and only a

few organisms are really well adapted to that environment

3. food webs which are relatively simple

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 4. change in the environment would probably have quite serious effects

High species diversity suggests:

1. a greater number of successful species and a more stable ecosystem

2. more ecological niches are available and the environment is less likely to be

hostile

3. complex food webs

4. environmental change is less likely to be damaging to the ecosystem as a whole

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 III. METHODOLOGY

Site Selection

The study was conducted at Ditumabo Mother Falls in Brgy, Ditumabo, Baler,

Aurora. The selected site was divided into 5 stations starting from the entrance down to the

Mother Falls. All the trees were identified using taxonomic keys.

FIGURE 1: L OCATION OF DITUMABO MOTHER FALLS , B ALER , AURORA

Data Collection

The diversity of trees in the study area was determined using quadrat method with

a measurement of 10 m x 10 m in each station. Quadrat method is based on measurement

of replicated sample units referred to as quadrats or plots. This method is appropriate for

estimating the abundance of plants and other organisms. Diameter at breast height (DBH)

or circumference at chest height (CCH) (1.3 meters from the ground) of all the trees were

measured and recorded. included in many forest inventories because it is an easily

7
measured variable that is related to the amount of growing space occupied by ;1 tree and it

is often used to determine the volume of the tree.

Data Analysis

The following analyses were used in order to assess the diversity of flowering trees

in Ditumabo Mother Falls in Brgy. Ditumabo, Baler, Aurora:

The number of individual species in each quadrat - The number of each species that was

found in every quadrat.

Percentage Occurrence – The number of station where the species occurred over the total

number of stations multiplied by one hundred.

𝑵𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅

% 𝑶𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Frequency Distribution (F) – the number of quadrats where the species occurred over the

total number of quadrats.

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅

𝑭=
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Relative Frequency (RF) – the frequency of species over the total frequency of species

multiplied by 100.

𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

𝑹𝑭 = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚

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Density (D) - the number of individuals of a species over the total area that were sampled.

𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

𝑫=
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒅

Relative Density (RD) – the density of a species over the total density of all species

multiplied by one hundred.

𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔
𝑹𝑫 = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

Dominance (Do)

𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

𝑫𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔 (𝒍) =
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒅
π
Where: Basal area = (DBH)2
4

Diameter (DBH) =circumference/ pi

Relative dominance

𝑫𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

𝑹𝑫𝒐 = 𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

Importance value index - the measure to assess the overall significance of a species in a

particular area or ecosystem.

𝑰𝑽𝑰 = 𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 + 𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑫𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 + 𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚

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Species Diversity - determines the number of different species occupying the same area,

which make up a community (Alberto 2005).

𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔
𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
√𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔

Shannon Diversity Index (H) accounts for both abundance and evenness of the

species present. The proportion of species i relative to the total number of species (pi) is

calculated, and then multiplied by the natural logarithm of this proportion (𝑙𝑛𝑝𝑖 ). The

resulting product is summed across species, and multiplied by -1:

𝑯′ = − ∑ 𝒑𝒊 𝒍𝒏𝒑𝒊
𝒊=𝟏

Identification and Classification

The identification and classification of the trees were based in “Handbook on

Trees” (Alberto and Galvez, 2000) and “Trees of Tropical Asia: An illustrated guide to

diversity ( La Frankie, Jr, 2010).

Stem

The different morphological features differentiate a monocot from a dicot plant.

The following structures are found in the stem; periderm, node, internode, terminal/apical

bud, lateral/axillary bud, leaf scar, bundle scar, bud scale scar and lenticels.

Leaves

The leaves will be classified according to its leaf arrangement and leaf venation.

The leaf arrangement or phyllotaxy includes alternate, opposite, whorled, distichous,

10
decussate and opposite in 2 ranks. A monocot leaf differs from a dicot leaf in terms of leaf

venation. A monocot leaf is characterized by parallel venation while a dicot leaf is

classified as palmately netted or pinnately netted.

Flowers, Fruits and Seeds

The type of inflorescence includes the corymb, catkin, panicle, cyme, spadix,

racem, umbel and spike. The classifications of fruits according to origin are simple,

aggregate, multiple. The seeds will be classified into monocotyledonous and

dicotyledonous seeds in shape, size and seed coat.

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 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Description of Study Site

Ditumabo Falls is situated in the town of San Luis, a neighboring town of Baler,

specifically in Barangay Ditumabo. The falls is towering at around 140 feet and with the

cold water from the highland of Sierra Madre Mountain Range. The trek from the entrance

to the Mother falls is 1.3 km and it was divided into 5 stations and served as the study site.

They were described as follows:

Station 1: Entrance of Ditumabo Mother Falls

Station 1 was started from the Entrance point of Ditumabo Mother Falls. The site

was surrounded by Gmelina trees, Niyog, Mahogany and Avocado.

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 Station 2: 520 meters away from the Entrance of Ditumabo Mother Falls

Station 2 is a rocky wet trail passing along and crossing the Ditumabo stream where the

Mother Falls is flowing and still surrounded by Gmelina trees and Niyog.

Station 3: 780 meters away from the Entrance of Ditumabo Mother Falls

Station 3 is still a rocky wet trail passing the water pipelines of the hydroelectric powerplant

that supplies power to Aurora Province. The site was surrounded by Tibig tree, Katmon

tree and Balobo.

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 Station 4: 1,040 meters away from the Entrance of Ditumabo Mother Falls

Station 4 which is a few meters from the Mother Falls is a small waterfall which they called

“Falls Alarm” as the tourist think that this is already the Mother Falls. This site was

surrounded by Balobo and Dalunot tree.

Station 5: Near Ditumabo Mother Falls

Station 5 is the location of Ditumabo Mother Falls. The site was still surrounded by Dalunot

and Balobo tree.

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Identification, Classification and Description of Trees

KATMON TREE

Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Dilleniales
Family: Dilleniaceae
Genus: Dillenia
Species: Dillenia philippinensis Rolfe

Katmon is a tree reaching a height of 6 to 15 meters, smooth or nearly so. Leaves

are leathery, shining, ovate, elliptic or oblong-ovate, 12 to 25 centimeters long, and

coarsely toothed at the margins. Flowers are white, large, soft, fleshy, and green, 6 to 8

centimeters in diameter, with large fleshy sepals tightly enclosing the true fruit.

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 BALOBO TREE

Division: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Brownlowiaceae
Genus: Diplodiscus
Species: Diplodiscus paniculatus Turez

Balobo is a medium-sized tree reaching a height of around 20m and a diameter of

about 60 to 80 cm. It has a short bole, cylindrical sometimes angular, crooked, tapering

with somewhat slender branches, irregular shape and quite dense crown, high buttress,

symmetrical, and plank type. Its bark is rough, dirty brown, flaky-scaly, flaking and at

times sloughing into small irregular-shaped sheets, leaving flat scars on the surface of the

bole. It has simple leaves which are alternate, elliptic or oblong elliptic, glossy above with

obtuse to rounded, or slightly inequilateral base; obtuse to acute apex; with 5-7 nerves on

each side of the midrib, ascendingly curved grayish; young leaves are drooping with

16
purplish tinged. The flowers are small, fragrant and whitish to yellowish, terminal or

subterminal panicles clustered towards the end of the branchlets. The fruit is subglobose

capsule around 2cm in diameter, brown, scaly with longitudinal ridge.

DALUNOT TREE

Division: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Pipturus
Species: Pipturus arborescens

Dalunot is a dioecious shrub or small tree attaining a height of 3 to 5 meters. Leaves

are ovate, 7 to 8 centimeters long, 3 to 10 centimeters wide, with the tip tapering to a point

and the base rounded or somewhat heart-shaped, the margins toothed, the upper surface

green, slightly hairy and a little rough, the lower surface pale and rather densely covered

17
with soft hairs. Male flowers are borne in dense, axillary fascicles, with greenish-white and

exerted styles. Female flowers are small and greenish, in dense, axillary, hemispheric

heads, 5 to 6 millimeters in diameter, with long-exerted styles. Fruit is white, very soft and

fleshy, depressed, nearly spherical, about 1 centimeter in diameter, and consists of many

small achenes immersed in the fleshy perianths.

AVOCADO TREE

Division: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Persea
Species: Persea Americana Mill

Persea americana is a tree that grows to 20 m (66 ft), with alternately arranged

leaves 12–25 cm (4.7–9.8 in) long. Panicles of flowers with deciduous bracts arise from

18
new growth or the axils of leaves. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 5–10

mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide.

The species is variable because of selection pressure by humans to produce larger,

fleshier fruits with a thinner exocarp. The avocado fruit is a climacteric, single-seeded

berry, due to the imperceptible endocarp covering the seed, rather than a drupe. The pear-

shaped fruit is 7–20 cm (2.8–7.9 in) long, weighs between 100 and 1,000 g (3.5 and 35.3

oz), and has a large central seed, 5–6.4 cm (2.0–2.5 in) long.

GMELINA TREE

Division: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Gmelina
Species: Gmelina arborea Roxb

Gmelina arborea is a fast-growing tree, which grows on different localities and

prefers moist fertile valleys with 750–4500 mm rainfall. It does not thrive on ill-drained

soils and remains stunted on dry, sandy or poor soils; drought also reduces it to a shrubby

19
form. The tree attains moderate to large heights of up to 30 m, with a girth of 1.2 to 4 m. It

has a chlorophyll layer just under the outer bark, which is pale yellow on the outside and

white inside.

COCONUT TREE

Division: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Genus: Cocos
Species: Cocos nucifera L.

A tall palm a height of 30 m, the trunk stout, marked with annular scars, base

thickened. Leaves are 4 to 5.5 m long, crowded at the apex of the trunk, the petiole stout,

1 m or more in length; leaflets are very numerous, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, coriaceous,

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up to 1 m in length. Inflorescence is 1 m long or less. Fruit is variable in shape and size,

obovoid to subglobose, often obscurely 3-angled, 15 to 25 cm long. Albumen is lining the

stony endocarp.

MAHOGANY TREE

Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Swietenia
Species: Swietenia macrophylla King

A medium-sized tree growing up to 20 m tall. Leaves are deciduous, alternate,

pinnately compound and petioled; leaflets are 6-12, opposite, obliquely-ovate, long

acuminate, glossy and dark green. Flowers are small and greenish yellow. Fruit is barrel-

shaped, brown, woody capsule, about 13 cm long (Madulid, 1995).

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 Diversity of Flowering Trees in Ditumabo Mother Falls Aurora

The percentage occurrence or species occurrence refers to the relative

representation of a species in a particular ecosystem and it is measured as the number of

station where the species occurred over the total number of stations multiplied by one

hundred.

Table 1: Species abundance, relative frequency, basal area, and importance value

indices of flowering trees in Ditumabo Mother Falls

Scientific name Local name Occurrence RF RD BA RDo IVI

Dillenia Katmon 20% 8.33% 12.77% 2,299.78 31.27% 51.61
philippinensis
Diplodiscus Balobo 60% 25.00% 18.00% 1,148.04 15.61% 58.61
paniculatus
Pipturus Dalunot 40% 16.67% 24.00% 2,279.54 31.00% 71.67
arborescens
Persea Avocado 20% 8.33% 4.26% 35.09 0.48% 12.81
Americana
Gmelina arborea Gmelina 40% 16.67% 19.15% 866.23 11.78% 46.65
Cocos nucifera Coconut 40% 16.67% 19.15% 466.38 6.34% 41.04
Swietenia Mahogany 20% 8.33% 6.38% 258.55 3.52% 17.85
macrophylla

The table above shows the species occurrence of flowering trees in Ditumabo

Mother Falls Aurora. The highest percentage occurrence was the Balobo tree (Diplodiscus

paniculatus) which is 60% followed by Dalunot tree (40%), Gmelina tree (40%), and

Coconut tree (40%). The lowest percentage occurrence was the Mahogany tree and Katmon

tree (20%). The relative frequency shows the popularity or mode of a certain type of data

based on the population sampled. Based on the data, Balobo has the highest RF with

25.00% followed by Dalunot, Gmelina and Coconut tree (16.67%). However, the lowest

recorded RF were Katmon, Avocado and Mahogany tree.

22
 Another parameter to measure the diversity of plants is the density is the relative

abundance which includes the density, relative density, dominance, relative dominance and

importance value index. The density refers to the number of individuals of a species over

the total area that were sampled which is estimated as 1,200 sq. meter while Relative

Density pertains to the density of a species over the total density of all species multiplied

by one hundred. The dominance obtained by dividing the basal area of species to the total

area sampled and to measure overall significance of a species in a particular area or

ecosystem the IVI or the importance value indices of species were obtained. The highest

relative dominance is Katmon (31.27%) followed by Dalunot (31.00%) and the lowest is

Avocado with 0.48% RDo.

Importance Value Index is a measure of how dominant a species is in a given forest

area. Based on the table 1, the highest importance value index is the Dalunot tree (71.67%)

this only implies that Diplodiscus paniculatus is the dominant species on the vicinity of

Ditumabo Mother Falls while Avocado has the lowest IVI with 12.81%.

The Shannon Diversity Index of 1.85 shows that there was a high diversity of

species at Ditumabo Mother Falls, San Luis Baler, Aurora. According to Magurran (2004),

typical values of Shannon Diversity Indices are generally between 1.5 and 3.5 in most

ecological studies, and the index is rarely greater than 4. The Shannon index increases as

both the richness and the evenness of the community increase. The fact that the index

incorporates both components of biodiversity can be seen as both a strength and a

weakness. It is a strength because it provides a simple, synthetic summary, but it is a

weakness because it makes it difficult to compare communities that differ greatly in

richness.

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 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION

Summary

Five stations were covered for the assessment on the diversity of flowering trees in

Ditumabo Mother Falls in San Luis Baler Aurora. The sample specimen were identified by

Prof. Paul Henrick F. Cojo Cruz, M.Sc, instructor I of Department of Biological Sciences

Central Luzon State University. The selected stations use 10 x 10m Quadrat method, there

were 6 species of flowering trees surveyed, with 48 number of individuals measured and

identified.

The most abundant species recorded was the Dalunot Tree (71.67%) which was

under the family Urticaceae containing 12 individuals observed followed by Balobo tree

with 58.61% of IVI and Katmon tree (51.61%). On the other hand, several species of trees

were also found to occur in only one station such as Avocado and Mahogay which was

occurred on station 1 only. The Shannon Diversity Index of 1.85 also shows that there was

a high diversity of species at Ditumabo Mother Falls, San Luis Baler, Aurora.

Conclusion

Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the Ditumabo Mother

Falls Baler Aurora has diverse species of flowering trees as indicated by the diversity index,

of 1.85 with over 48 number of individual trees, 6 species of flowering trees were identified

and classified. Moreover, among all of the species of trees, Dalunot which belongs to the

family Urticaceae was found out to be the most abundant and most dominant species.

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 Recommendations

On the basis of the results of this study, the following recommendations are made:

1. Considering the limitations of available trees in some of the selected areas,

advanced ocular inspection plays an important strategy in conducting

further studies on diversity of trees

2. Usage of Transect method can also be applied.

25
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 APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

CERTIFICATE OF IDENTIFICATION

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 APPENDIX B

COLLECTION OF SPECIMEN AND DATA

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