Conducted by ERDB
Completed on 2010
Completed
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The study was conducted in Lamao Forest Reserve in Limay and Mariveles, Bataan. This study generally intends to assess the biophysical attributes, floral and faunal composition as well as the social components of the Lamao Forest Reserve as ecotourism site geared towards biodiversity conservation. Establishment of belt transects were used in the collection of data for the floral component, while the assessment of the faunal species were obtained from the data gathered by the technical staff from the UPLB Museum of Natural History. Interview schedule/questionnaires were utilized to determine the awareness, perception, and attitude of the communities leading to their acceptability in establishing the reserve as ecotourism site.
Diversity and evenness indices, and dominance index were determined using Shannon\'s and Simpson\'s formula, respectively for the biological component. Sorensen\'s formula was used to determine the coefficients of community and percent similarity of species found in each transect. Geographical Information System was used to produce thematic maps as guide for ecotourism development. The social component used descriptive analysis using simple statistics such as frequency and means.
Results revealed that trees with diameter breast height of 10 centimeters and above, arthropods, and bird species in the area were still divers. The mammalian, reptilian and amphibian species were found to be less diverse, however significant mammalian species were found in the study site. Majority of the respondents (87.54%) favored the establishment of the Lamao Forest Reserve as ecotourism site while only 12.46% did not favor it.
Based on the criteria set by the National Ecotourism Strategy, the reserve can be established as ecotourism site. The area for conservation and the area for development within the reserve were classified using the specific criteria identified by the author as reflected in the thematic maps.