With no practical way to commute to remote rainforest areas we had to setup camp using local materials and crafts. The only luxury was using a tarpaulin for a roof instead of palm thatch!
Short Stories
The expedition and rainforest
This is the full collection of stories on Palawan
All the stories here tell different aspects of the vegetation and the island as discovered by the expedition. These stories appear on the relevant pages as well
Collecting in rainforest presents the challenge of bringing specimens down from the top of 40m trees, preserving the material for transport, and avoiding ants and snakes.
The Expedition was directed to find the answers to many fundamental questions about the vegetation of the unique island of Palawan and to suggest a suitable area to be set aside for the gene conservation area project.
Background research, networking, permits, team members, inclusion of national researches, medicines, supplies, logistics, politics and an advance recon mission are needed.
13.2 cubic meters of collections were shipped from the Philippines to the Riksherbarium in Holland!
Prior to this expedition, the known flora of Palawan was represented by 1519 species in 649 genera and 138 families of higher plants. The known flora has now been expanded by 153 species, an increase of 10%
A study of the flora of Palawan had to start with the production of lists of the species already collected on the island. Lists were compiled for the very first time 1982 for Monocotyledons, Dicotyledons, Pteridophyta, Gymnosperm.
This story guides users to the where individual specimens were collected in the field, which herbaria have sets of the specimens and how to search the digital systems.
The extremely rare Palawan Peacock Pheasant, Red-Vented Cockatoo, other parrots, Palawan Hornbill, butterflies, other insects, snakes, pangolin and Mouse Deer all make Palawan a very special island.
Ants benefit plants by providing protection and nutrients and gain protection from the plants themselves
Three new freshwater species were described directly after the expedition, Amphora subhyalina, Amphora staurohyalina and Anomoeoneis irawanae. In 2008, a further marine species was described, Colliculoamphora palawanensis.
This vegetation-type is an extreme form of the ultrabasic forests of Palawan with many heavy-metal indicator species.
32 species of figs were collected. 12 were new to Palawan, increasing the total number to 53 species (a 29% increase). Figs growing on stolons running over the ground. Figs on small shrubs looking like raspberries. Figs growing like a football on the side of a small tree. Figs hanging in festoons from a large trunk.
Even in 1893, the lower slopes of Mt. Mantalingahan were deforested. In 1984, profitable round-log export was wiping out dipterocarp forest in north central Palawan, while mining removed mid-altitude and ridge forests. Kaingin plots encroached on forest in many other areas.
The Irawan River Valley at low altitudes had several forest types: semi-deciduous forest, riverine forests, and valley floor forest. An extremely diverse tree flora was found in these forests.
7 vegetation types were found on this unexplored limestone lens and the andesite/basalt flow that surfaces to the east. The huge emergent tree Intsia palembanica was new to the Philippines!
The sheer limestone cliffs of these karst limestone islands tower vertically from the sea to 300 m . Except in the bays, the terrain is rugged with pinnacles, crevasses, sinkholes, and was covered in algae. Surface water was absent. Home to Vietchia merrillii, a new species of Amorphophallus, A. salmoneus was described from the expedition material.
The ultrabasic, limestone, spilite and basalt areas on Mt. Mantalingajan all support different forest types. These also change with altitude. The endemic Nepenthes mantalingajanensis is only found on the peak. A new durian species was described from here and much more.
The Victoria Peaks area is the largest region of ultrabasic forest on Palawan. It is the home of the Palawan Racket-tailed Parrot and the tree Embolanthera, both found nowhere else in the world.
Canopy height was 7 m in the gap and c. 5m on the ridges. Epiphyte cover was very heavy.
At the time of the expedition, only Nepenthes philippinensis was known, but many years after, spectacular discoveries were made!
The expedition resulted in: 1 new genus to the Philippines; 13 additional new genera new to Palawan; 27 additional new species new to Palawan – so 40 species new to the island; Bulbophyllum had 12 new species records added, raising the total to 15 species on Palawan
This was one of the most species rich forest types seen. Regrettably, the collection area no longer exists as a logging company has since felled the entire area.
Palawan rich and unique palm flora was increased by 42% through the expedition. Heterspathe dransfeldii was a new species described from a high ridge forest that has now been destroyed, while Calamus erinaceus var. declivium was a new endemic rattan subspecies from St. Pauls Bay.
A dense pole forest on Mt. Beauforts' western face and an open forest dominated by large emergent Gymnostoma sp. on its crest.
This is still a largely unexplored massive karst limestone area. Three forest types were investigated in the national park, and a fourth type seen on the aerial photographs.
Almaciga may soon disappear from Palawan due to logging and incorrect resin tapping.
Occurring above 500 m on Mt. Beaufort, this forest type grew on 25 - 36 degree slopes with occasional patches of scree. Agathis populations were healthy, but at risk from careless resin extraction.
The minimum estimate for those plants with known uses plus those closely related to plants with known uses is forty-three percent of the collected species. This very high figure clearly demonstrate the great genetic resource represented by the flora of Palawan.
