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Before the year ends, join us as we revisit Taal Volcano and the island, eleven months after its latest eruption.
Last December 5, a team of biology and earth scientists from the University of the Philippines Diliman and the University of Santo Tomas trekked over Taal Volcano Island under the Agham ng Bulkang Taal program.
The Taal Volcano Island Conservancy Science Expedition was led by Dean Alice Lacorte from the FAITH College of College of Computing and Information Technology; Dr. Lillian Rodriguez, Ph.D. of UP Terrestrial Research of Ecology and Evolution Laboratory (TREE Lab); Mario Aurelio, Ph.D., Director of UP National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS); Alexander Young, Ph.D., Professorial Fellow of the UP Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology (IESM); and Rey Donne Papa, Ph.D., Dean of UST College of Science. They were also joined by representatives from the FAITH Catholic School.
An initiative of the FAITH Botanic Gardens Foundation, Inc. and FAITH Colleges, this expedition is envisioned as an initial step in mobilizing the academe to work with local stakeholders in understanding how to care, nurture, and develop local resources.
FAITH Colleges, a donee of about 176 hectares of titled land within the Taal Volcano Island, is preparing a management plan that will gradually develop this property as a nature conservancy area. Among the components of this plan is a living laboratory of ecological and diversity conservation for local students and researchers.
The participating scientists have been involved in various research efforts covering conservation ecology, wildlife biology, insect conservation and diversity, Philippine mollusk, freshwater pollution, human genome project, and the discovery of the Philippine Rise or Benham Rise.
