The University of Santo Tomas together with local and international organizers including NFRDI-BFAR, National University of Singapore (NUS) and California Academy Sciences (CAS), held their First Philippine Symposium on Freshwater Biodiversity and Ecosystems (PSFBE) last June 7-10 of the present year at the Grand Ballroom of Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building, UST, Manila.
The symposium catered to participants coming from different parts of the Philippines along with other Asian countries. The O.P. acting rector of UST, Rev. Fr. Richard Ang, welcomed the participants, and the PSFBE 2016 symposium chair, Dr. Rey Donne S. Papa, gave the symposium overview, during the opening ceremonies on June 7. The keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. David Dudgeon from the University of Hong Kong wherein he emphasized the need in exerting more efforts in conserving freshwater diversity especially in the present era wherein there are a lot of advancements and changes occurring. There were parallel sessions that focused biodiversity and ecosystems as well as taxonomy and systematics. Prior to the end of the first day of symposium, the Taal Lake’s first biomuseum – “TAALAMAN” located at the UST Main Building Lobby and UST Museum was opened followed by a welcome dinner. The word “TAALAMAN” was mentioned to be coined through the words “Taal” which is a lake in the Philippines and “Laman” which means component, that simply promotes the theme of the biomuseum wherein it exhibits the aquatic species found in lake Taal. Plenary sessions were carried out during the the second and third day, June 8-9, of the 1st PSFBE. The first speaker was Dr. Terry Gosliner of CAS whom delivered his lecture entitled, “The Verde Island Passage: An exemplar of Philippine Aquatic Megadiversity” by means of video call. He was followed by Dr. David Taylor of NUS whom was the geographer that shared his knowledge on “Environmental resilience and recent environmental changes in Tropical East Asia: Sedimentary evidence from crater lakes”. Subsequently, Dr. Mudjekeewis D. Santos of NFRDI explained the significance and made efforts in “Establishing a long-term landed catch and effort monitoring (LCEM) to support stock assessment and management of major freshwater ecosystems in the Philippines”. The succeeding speakers delivered their lectures during the third day, June 9. Dr. Chih- Hao Hsieh of National Taiwan University and Academia Sinica Taiwan imparted his lecture entitled, “Climate and human induced impacts on plankton – The Lake Biwa story”. While Dr. Noboru Okuda of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Japan focused on “Methanotrophic food webs as a carbon recycling system in lakes under climate changes”. Last but definitely not the least, Dr. Masahisa Nakamura of International Lake Environment Committee Foundation, Shiga University gave an interesting talk about “ILBM, an ecosystem service framework for integrated water management with lakes as a key component”. Forums were opened after each speaker that gave the participants their chances in asking questions or queries to the speakers. There were parallel sessions in contributed papers and oral competition among graduate students during the afternoon sessions. The symposium ended with the distribution of awards and launching of Philippine Society for Freshwater BioSciences (PSFB). The closing remarks was given by the Dean of College of Sciences in UST, Dr. John Donnie A. Ramos. The members of the GFL including MFH Ventolero, RD Aguila, JMR Pereda, PMD Pattugalan and KP Sarmiento, acted as part of the secretariat committee. They catered to participants in the on-site registration and served as organizers in parallel sessions. KP Sarmiento together with GFL laboratory supervisor MFH Ventolero, BFAR-Cordillera former project leader Mr. Marx Garcia and NFRDI Scientist II Dr. MD Santos, presented their poster entitled, “DNA Barcoding of Freshwater Aquatic Species from Four Rivers in Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines”. The said poster focused on identifying aquatic species collected from the rivers of CAR as part of the National Stock Assessment Program (NSAP). Generally, the symposium turned out to be a complete success as the lectures, plenary sessions, and parallel sessions were delivered on time and completely. Impressions given by participants during the closing ceremonies rendered great feedback particularly mentioning the intent to attend the next freshwater symposium. Moreover, the participants gave thanks to the organizers by giving them the chance to meet freshwater experts that could truly help them in their own projects. Dr. Papa mentioned “See you again on 2018” when the next PSFBE shall be held.
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The paper entitled "Updates on the status of giant clams Tridacna spp. and Hippopus hippopus in the Philippines using mitochondrial CO1 and 16S rRNAgenes" authored by former GFL labrat, Mr. Apollo Marco D. Lizano and Dr. Mudjekeewis D. Santos has chosen as recipient of the OUTSTANDING SCIENTIFIC PAPER AWARDS for 2016 by the National Academy of Science and Technolog, Philippines (NAST Phl).
Kudos to you for a job well done!!! The National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines (NAST Phl) has chosen the paper entitled: "Taxonomic identification of 'Ludong' fish from the Cagayan River (Philippines)" as recipient of the OUTSTANDING SCIENTIFIC PAPER AWARDS for 2016 authored by Ms. Minerva Fatimae H. Ventolero, Mr Billy Joel N. Catacutan, a Genetic Fingerprinting former labrat and Dr. Mudjekeewis D. Santos of National Fisheries Research and Development Institute and co-authored by Dr. Evelyn C. Ame of BFAR Region 2..
The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) is the highest recognition and scientific advisory body of the Philippines under the Department of Science and Technology. With that, the whole GENETIC FINGERPRINTING LABORATORY is very of of you, guys! It calls for a celebration, Min Mama! |
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