Ms Lorraine Joyce Del Rosario1, Mr Lester Arvin Pascua1, Ms Karina Mae Delos Santos1, Ms Ardea Licuanan1, Mr Ambrocio Melvin Matias1, Ms Melody Anne Ocampo1, Mr Ian Kendrich Fontanilla1
1University Of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Biography:
Hailing from the Philippines, Ms. Lorraine Joyce M. Del Rosario is currently a post-graduate student, lecturer and research associate from the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman and a lecturer from Ateneo de Manila University. She used to teach at the University of Santo Tomas Senior High School where she was given a Gawad Dunong award. She also works as a content developer and trainer for Scuola, Inc.
After graduating as valedictorian in the Special Program in Journalism in high school, Ms. Del Rosario earned a BS Biology degree from the University of the Philippines Baguio supported by a Department of Science and Technology Junior Level Science Scholarship. Her undergraduate thesis entitled Potential of Biolouminescent Vibrio sp. FROM Gazza achlamys as Biosensor of Copper and Zinc, with her partner and adviser was awarded as one of the two best paper presentations in the 3rd Philippine Solid Hazardous Waste Management Conference.
At present, she is an MS Biology Candidate from University of the Philippines Diliman granted with DOST-ASTHRDP Scholarship. Her master’s thesis focusing on using eDNA metabarcoding to characterize biodiversity and community structure, is part of the PORTEC (Port and Ballast Water Baselines using Ecological, Microbiological and eDNA approaches) project. Her field of interest is mainly in Genetics, Environmental DNA, Wildlife Forensics, Science Communication and Education.
Aside from being an her multiple hats, Ms. Del Rosario spends time writing, tutoring English and Biology, speaking and hosting in public, and traveling as a hobby. She finds joy in exploring places.
Abstract:
Shipping ports serve as potential entry points of invasion by marine non-indigenous species (MNIS), which can pose significant threats to native ecosystems. To assess the presence of MNIS in the Philippines and ensure that the country complies with international conventions to mitigate biological invasion, the diversity of taxa present in eight major Philippine ports, namely, 1) Batangas Port, 2) Subic Port, 3) Cunanan Wharf, 4) Manila Ocean Park, 5) Manila International Container Terminal, 6) Matnog Port, 7) Cebu International Port, and 8) Davao International Port, was determined and monitored over a two-year period using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. To strengthen the observation, eDNA metabarcoding was also conducted for Ballast Water collected as a means of vector of marine organisms. There were 1,172 species identified, and arthropods were determined to consistently dominate all ports and ballast water from 2021 to 2023, followed by molluscs (e. g. bivalves, gastropods). Moreover, five introduced species recognized as potentially invasive to invasive were detected from the ports, namely: 1) Amphibalanus reticulatus (Arthropoda: Crustacea), 2) Didemnum perlucidum (Arthropoda: Crustacea), 3) Balanus glandula (Chordata: Tunicata), 4) Ascidia gemmata (Chordata: Tunicata), and 5) Ecteinascidia styeloides (Chordata: Tunicata). The distributions were validated from the World Register of Introduced Marine Species (WRiMS) and Catalogue of Life (CoL). The methods established and the findings showcase the potential of eDNA metabarcoding as an effective and highly sensitive routine surveillance tool for monitoring the presence of marine non-indigenous species in Philippine ports even without undergoing the tedious way of collection and morphological identification of organisms.