BLOG 3 - RESOURCES AND CONDITIONS

I live in Anos, Los Banos, Laguna and I always travel via my car when I go to my workplace and when I bring my youngest to Maquiling School. In order not to experience the heavy traffic in the crossing area, I make it a point to find an alternative route, and this is taking the Jamboree road. As I drive through this road with my daughter, I always appreciate the wonders of God’s creation. I get to see the beauty of Mt. Makiling as I start driving from PCARRD to UPLB. I feel the fresh air and I see the diversity of plant species there. I really enjoy looking at the tall trees that abound the whole road. I appreciate what a great source of resources Mt. Makiling is to a variety of organisms. For example, along the area of the Magnetic Hill, I get to see residents wash their clothes via the water that comes from the mountain. Mt. Makiling is also an important habitat/home for many animals.  I get to realize this everyday when I pass by the area!

When I took my MA in Environmental Education, my thesis involved Mt. Makiling so since then, Mt. Makiling  has had a soft spot in my heart. Having been exposed to environmental issues due to my graduate courses, it has been my habit to observe the environment and find solutions to every problem I see and witness. A particular problem that prevails along the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve is deforestation. As I pass the road, I observe the proliferation of many residents squatting in the place which is a proof that much of the area has undergone deforestation. Not only used as a residential area, most of the areas are utilized to plant some crops which serve as the  residents’ sources of food and income. The evidence to this is the area where I see many residents selling backyard crops like fruits (papaya, mango, banana, buko) and vegetables (string beans, raddish, ampalaya). Since I am a lover of fruits and vegetables for my diet, I habitually stop along one of the stores there to buy. However, as I interact with the people living there, there is this question in my mind, “For how long are they going to live there since  they are just squatter residents there?” It really goes to say that the resources in Mt. Makiling must be very abundant making many people reside there for a longer time.  This is an example of how human activities affect the organisms and this is the key concept that I learned from Module 3. As I may be a true environmentalist, I never stop of thinking ways on how to solve partially the problem of deforestation in Mt. Makiling. As residents may not be totally relocated, some important “bald” areas should totally undergo reforestation. For a fact, reforestation will take a long process and perhaps years will be considered for one to say that the area has undergone reforestation. To speed up the reforestation procedure, dormancy in the seeds to be planted should be broken. By understanding the ecology of dormancy among dormant plants, it will be easy to think of possible measures or ways to induce the process. From Module 1, dormancy is defined as a state or a period of temporary metabolic inactivity or minimal activity. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions. Seasonal dormancy may be a valid way of colonizing an environment beyond tolerance ranges.

In plants, dormancy generally occurs in response to adverse growing conditions. For example: perennial plants going dormant during cold period or grass going dormant in intense heat. Growth stops to conserve energy until better conditions take place. This happens naturally as seasons and weather change. For some reasons, dormancy can also be artificially controlled. This is  to store plants for shipping or to get them to flower for particular holidays. In animals, dormancy takes place when growth, development, and physical activity are temporarily stopped. This is to minimize metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy.

Proven as effective, from my readings in biology journals, Trichoderma is one microorganism that is able to break the dormancy of some important plants. I maybe ambitious, but perhaps, I can explore on this and look for some dormant plants that can thrive in the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve for the rehabilitation, conservation and preservation of this national park.