Abstract
Lasang landscapes in the Philippines are equivalents of the Japanese satoyama. These are mosaics of patches composed of villages, agricultural lands and forests where dependency of human and nature relationship is evident. Lasang is known in diverse names in various islands of the Philippines. It is known as muyong, pinugo, lakon, gubat, guba, lasang and bungtod, to name a few. I used the term lasang in this paper as I am more familiar with it. The zonation of biodiversity in forests of selected lasang landscapes in the Philippines were documented. Woody species along altitudinal zones were studied in bioculturally significant forests in the Philippines like Mt. Pulag (northern Luzon), Mt. Akiki (northern Luzon) and Mt. Mayon (southern Luzon) by analyzing altitudinal trends from available published sources. Results showed that woody species from lower elevation were encroaching in higher altitudes. A critical analysis of the observed pattern of vegetation zonation in these forest landscapes was comparatively done. Environmental issues like biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, deforestation, bioinvasion, among others were evident. Concerns for environmental rehabilitation and ecological restoration through appropriate sustainable management practices were elucidated.
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Acknowledgements
I thank Professor Takakazu Yumoto of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan for the financial assistance in traveling to Beijing, China to attend the World Congress of the International Association of Landscape Ecology and the University of the Philippines Open University for the Research Dissemination Grant. I also thank Professor Sun-Kee Hong of the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures, Mokpo National University, Korea, Professor Qingwen Min of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China Academy of Sciences, China and Professor Jan Bogaert of the Universite de Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, France for the fruitful discussion.
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Buot, I.E. (2014). Zonation of Biodiversity in the Forests of Lasang Landscapes in the Philippines. In: Hong, SK., Bogaert, J., Min, Q. (eds) Biocultural Landscapes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8941-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8941-7_3
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