The Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity: The Philippine Islands

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TomvdH

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Scuba Instructor
Messages
83
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Location
Indonesia / Philippines
# of dives
2500 - 4999
The Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity: The Philippine Islands

Synopsis

Multiple datasets show that marine biodiversity reaches global maxima in the Indo-Malay-Philippines archipelago
. Analysis of distribution data for 2,983 species reveals a pattern of richness on a finer scale and identifies a peak of marine biodiversity in the central Philippine Islands and a secondary peak between peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra. This pattern is repeated in diverse habitat and higher taxa classes, most rigorously for marine shorefishes, supporting geohistorical hypotheses as the most general unifying explanations. Specific predictions based on area of overlap, area of accumulation, and area of refuge hypotheses suggest that present day eastern Indonesia, or Wallacea, should be the center of marine biodiversity. Processes suggested by these three hypotheses contribute to the diversity in this region and are also a likely explanation for the secondary center of diversity. Our study indicates, however, that there is a higher concentration of species per unit area in the Philippines than anywhere in Indonesia, including Wallacea. The Philippine center of diversity is consistent with hypotheses that this area experienced numerous vicariant and island integration events and these hypotheses warrant further testing. Special attention to marine conservation efforts in the Philippines is justified because of the identification of it as an epicenter of biodiversity and evolution.

Kent E. Carpenter, Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529 U.S.A. (email: kcarpent@odu.edu) and Victor G. Springer Division of Fishes, Department of Zoology MRC-159, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 U.S.A. (email: Springer.Victor@nmnh.si.edu )


To read the full report (38 page pdf file) can be down loaded from;
www.odu.edu/sci/biology/files/ EBFMS3699-04CarpenterSpringerPhilippineCenterPrePressInPress.pdf
 
i was there when they presented the paper at the insitute, they're amazing people not to mention scientists. just wanted to share something about it, to personalize the paper a bit. dr. carpenter is in fact married to a cebuana. and when doing the analysis, he wasn't really expecting the data to show the center to be in the philippines. it's been long held to be in indonesia. and when he saw that it did in fact point to the philippines, he immediately thought "oh, $&*%#$. people are NOT gonna believe me". he was extreeemely happy the center didn't happen to be near cebu. otherwise people would start thinking he's just biased!! :wink:
despite the papers limitations (which they admit to), it does have a lot of strengths. and i'd like to believe the strengths do indeed show what we feel in our gut when we dive in the philippines. that the marine biodiversity IS amazing. and perhaps, it really is the most biodiverse in the world. (they have similar data sets for corals, etc, but had the most data for fish, so they focused the most on the fish part)
it's something we should be very very proud of. and take very very good care of. :)
 
lara1018:
i was there when they presented the paper at the insitute, they're amazing people not to mention scientists. just wanted to share something about it, to personalize the paper a bit. dr. carpenter is in fact married to a cebuana. and when doing the analysis, he wasn't really expecting the data to show the center to be in the philippines. it's been long held to be in indonesia. and when he saw that it did in fact point to the philippines, he immediately thought "oh, $&*%#$. people are NOT gonna believe me". he was extreeemely happy the center didn't happen to be near cebu. otherwise people would start thinking he's just biased!!
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despite the papers limitations (which they admit to), it does have a lot of strengths. and i'd like to believe the strengths do indeed show what we feel in our gut when we dive in the philippines. that the marine biodiversity IS amazing. and perhaps, it really is the most biodiverse in the world. (they have similar data sets for corals, etc, but had the most data for fish, so they focused the most on the fish part)
it's something we should be very very proud of. and take very very good care of.
icosm14.gif
I lived in and dove Indonesia well over 10 years. Now I am here (permanent resident) in the Philippines. While the biodiversity can be evaluated by scientists, I think we all know we are lucky to live in South East Asia. Not only because of the marine environment, but also of those we dive with. So, Indonesia or the Philppines, either way, we have a lot to protect for the future and a lot to be thankful for.
 
TomvdH:
The Center of the Center of Marine Shorefish Biodiversity: The Philippine Islands

To read the full report (38 page pdf file) can be down loaded from;
www.odu.edu/sci/biology/files/ EBFMS3699-04CarpenterSpringerPhilippineCenterPrePressInPress.pdf
I couldn't find the paper at that site.

Tom
 
Nomaster:
I couldn't find the paper at that site.

Tom
Tom, I suggest that you drop Kent an email. He is a good guy and will help you find what ever you are looking for.

Kent E. Carpenter, Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529 U.S.A. (email: kcarpent@odu.edu).
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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