Fruit bats are reforesting African woodlands

APRIL 2, 2019

by Max Planck Society

Not only do intact ecosystems delight the eye of nature lovers, they also help people financially. However, it is difficult to put an exact figure on how much money they actually generate in specific cases. For the first time, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, together with their colleagues from Sweden and Ghana, have now calculated the ecological and financial benefits of straw-coloured fruit bats in Africa.

Every night, individuals of this bat species fly long distances to their feeding grounds in the course of which they disseminate the seeds of the fruits they consume. According to the researchers, a colony of 150,000 animals disseminate more than 300,000 small seeds in a single night. This is sufficient to kickstart the regrowth of 800 hectares of forest – for a single colony. Thus, both forests and humans could benefit from better protection for these creatures, which are primarily at risk from hunting.

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Lessons in rare wildlife while reforesting Cebu

CEBU CITY—Librarian Lorna Eguia was all ears when wildlife biologist Lisa Paguntalan talked about the Cebu Flowerpecker (Dicaeum quadricolor), the never-been-photographed bird found only in Cebu.

“I never knew that we have a rare treasure in the mountains of Cebu. This is a different learning experience, far from the tall buildings rising in the city,” said Eguia, American corner librarian of the University of San Carlos.

She was one of nearly 1,000 people from different companies and organizations who joined the kickoff event of the yearly reforestation caravan of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) on June 23 in Sitio Cantipla, Barangay Tabunan, in Cebu City.

Tabunan, a mountain village about 45 minutes by car from the city center, is part of the Central  Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL), Metro Cebu’s primary source of water with an area of more than 28,000 hectares of forests and farmland.

Cebu Hillylands

The Cebu Flowerpecker is one of at least 51 bird species found in the Tabunan Forest Corridor inside the CCPL, which is also called Cebu Hillylands.

Known as “manuto” to locals, the elusive bird is among the world’s 10 rarest birds and top 50 critically endangered species in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International. It was believed to be extinct until it was discovered in 1992 in the Tabunan Forest Corridor.

Continued:  http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/228565/lessons-in-rare-wildlife-while-reforesting-cebu