“Eco 4.0 PH: Rebuilding Ecological Approaches in the Philippines”, the first hy-flex seminar organized by the UST Graduate Seminar class of the Natural Sciences cluster, was held at the Science Online Learning Environment, UST College of Science, and virtually at Zoom on December 2, 2022.
This seminar, which was attended by UST graduate students and working professionals from external institutions, updated its participants about some of the current approaches being done in the study of ecology in the Philippines.
Three UST Ph.D. Biological Science students served as the speakers of the event.
Cagayan Valley Science High School academic staff Joel C. Magday, Jr., talked about the exploration of novel fungal endophytes from endemic ginger species. According to him, this kind of organism is a rich source of natural product compounds that could be used as medicines or remedies for known diseases like cancer.
Southern Luzon State University academic staff Essex Vladimer G. Samaniego, shared his expertise in studying invasive alien species, particularly of frogs, in protected sites like the Mt. Banahaw-San Cristobal landscapes. His hope about this research is to find an appropriate management system that would neutralize the imbalance in the ecosystem brought by the invasive alien frogs in the said protected landscapes.
Our Lady of Fatima University-Quezon City Asst. Prof. Zandra D. Tolentino-Salut, discussed biodiversity and hydrological factors affecting the life of organisms in swamp areas around Candaba, Pampanga. Through this study, she believed that a new version of understanding about aquatic ecology can be constructed and can be applied to the restoration of devastated aquatic systems aiming towards the sustainability of these ecosystems.
The ‘rebuilding’ concept in this seminar’s context was about integrating new information from the evolving life of organisms to existing ecological approaches so that innovative solutions like dynamic management systems can be established; this strategy, in effect, could sustain the biodiversity of microorganisms, plants, and animals in different ecosystems in the Philippines.
The event was formally opened by the Program Lead of the Natural Science cluster in UST Graduate School and Dean of the College of Science Prof. Rey Donne S. Papa, Ph.D., and it was concluded with the closing remarks given by the UST Graduate School Dean Prof. Michael Anthony C. Vasco, Ph.D.
