Reaction Paper: Spatial Ecology of Leopard Cats in Palawan, Philippines

The speaker last seminar is an assistant professor in the Animal Biology Division, Institute of
Biological Science, University of Philippines-Los Banos. She is Ms. Desamarie Antonette P. Fernandez.
Her seminar was about the Spatial Ecology of Leopard Cats in Palawan, Philippines. The goal of the study
is to know the habitat use and home range of the Leopard cats in Palawan.

According to Prof. Fernandez, there are two types of leopard cat. The first type is the mainland
leopard cat which is the Prionailurus bergalensis keer which was found in Asia. While the other type of
leopard cats are the Sunda leopard cats, Prionailurus javanensis Desmorst which was concentrated on the
islands of Sumatra, Palawan, Java and other parts of the South East Asia.

The speaker started the seminar by giving meanings on Spatial Ecology and Habitat use. According
to her, Spatial Ecology is about the spatial extent or the space in the environment used by the organism.
While the habitat use is the frequency of organism’s presence in a certain habitat type. By the use of the
experiment, she wants to analyze the movement of the leopard cats in terms of habitat use and home
range.

For the study, there are three parts for the methodology - pre-trapping, trapping and post- trapping.
The site of the study is located at the Brgy. Cabigaan, Palawan City. Her team acquired a Wildlife Gratuitous
Permit PCSD which means that they can capture and transport wildlife species from a natural habitat. They
also have the land use and land cover maps. Before they started the whole experiment, she pointed out to
have a field Reconnaissance in which they would first have a survey about the land details.

For the trapping stage, they made 12 live traps which has a size of 80 X 40 X 40 cm with a single
door opening. To lure the leopard cats, her team used live week old chicks for bait which are inserted into
a clear pen outside the trap and used foot treadle to confine the cats. According to Prof. Fernandez, the
live chicks are great baits because they produce sounds and smell which are attractive for the leopard cats.

The first weeks of the trapping stage are not that fortunate for the team. Instead of leopard cats,
they got civet and Philippine toad. After almost two months, they successfully have one, an old male leopard
cat.

For the post trapping, the leopard cats were sedated by the team’s licensed veterinarian. They
checked their weights, dentations, genitals and age. Before they release them, they put a radio-transmitter
collar on each cat. The collar was connected to a radio-receiver which has a headset and an antenna. With
this devices, they tried to do GIS Analysis.

All in all, four leopard cats were captured by the team for almost 1860 trapping nights. One in every
465 trap nights and had 0.215 % success rate. They concluded that the leopard cats have four habitat parts
namely the forest, mixed brush land, coconut and built up plantation. They consume exotic rodent pests
and to certain extents, sugar canes.

Many information were given by the seminar, most especially when you are in the field. There are
many things to be kept in mind like having permits to do experiments like this, and try to inform the residents
that illegal poaching are not approved by the law and would cause them fines. Even though these leopard
cats are cute, they must not be taken away from their home.
AUSTRIA, Shaira J.
Reaction Paper

A Closer Look to Glycobiology

With the advancements nowadays, a new brunch of Biology had sprung to life, the Glycobiology.
A seminar was in the Institute of Biological Science Main Auditorium last February 5, 2018. It was held to
further explain this new discovery. The talk was led by a professor of the Environmental Division of the
Institute of Biological Science, University of the Philippines – Los Banos. This event was a come-back
seminar for he had just acquired his Doctorate in Osaka and has just returned in the Academe. He is
Assistant Professor Ronilo Jose Flores.

For almost six years, Professor Flores focused on molecular works. He studied the organic
components of cell, most especially the carbohydrates and proteins. One of his study was the modifications
of protein in the red blood cells of the organisms. Here, he had a major discovery that led him to the study
of Glycobiology. He saw that in every change in the sugar attachments in the red blood cells, there are also
a change in the biology of it, separating each blood type, therefore making the ABO Blood group.

Focusing on nucleic acids and proteins, carbohydrates are now the star of molecular works
because there are so many things to be discovered about it. So, what is Glycobiology? It is the study of the
structure, chemistry, biochemical, and biological functions of complex carbohydrates. These also includes
the study of the biosynthesis and biology of saccharides. These includes glycoproteins, glycoconjugates,
glycolipids, photoglycans and many other carbohydrates in a living cell organism.

From studies concerning Glycobiology, he learned and shared a lot of knowledge. Such knowledge
are the ability of glycans to form structural diversities, glycosylation is way abundant, 90% of proteins are
glycosylated, and glycans are important for rodents, and many others.

Glycans are involved in nearly all biological processes. His study about the Unravelling the N-
glycan structures of yeasts in the Phylum Basidiomycota, in Fujiyama Laboratory in Osaka Japan, also
made him more focused on studying sugars.

According to him, it is not the cell membrane that is the first line of defense against pathogens, it
must be the glycans attached to the surface of the proteins or lipids. With their discoveries in their laboratory,
they are capable to form products like novel enzymes which may become useful for other people. Many
other advancements were also taken into consideration in the gradual growth of Glycobiology.

Having focused on the genetic material, it is nice that there are other branch of Science focused
on other materials which made up the living cells of an organism. Even though it’s a long way to go,
scientists are still eager to learn more and to share more. They tried their best to give formations to the
public and invent materials which would help the society, more importantly, those which are in the edge of
hopelessness like cancer patients.