Vol. 51 No. 1 (2010): Silliman Journal
Welcome to this issue of Silliman Journal. The full-length articles in this issue are products of research on
two Philippine river systems—Bago River in Negros Occidental and Jalaur River in Iloilo. The research project was funded by a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Grant-in-Aid (GIA). Both settings included biological, hydrological, physico-chemical, and socioeconomic studies of the river systems.
The Bago River system research team was represented by Bacolod City academic institutions: La Consolacion College as the lead institution, the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R), Visayas Maritime Academy (VMA) Global College, and University of San Agustin in addition to Central Philippines Adventist College in Murcia, Negros Occidental. The Jalaur River system was studied by researchers from Iloilo institutions, namely Central Philippine University (CPU), Iloilo State College of Fisheries (ISCOF), and Saint Paul's University as well as from the province of Negros Oriental: Silliman University in Dumaguete City. The issue begins with the Bago River studies ------ first an assessment of its physico-chemical and bacteriological aspects by Joji Linaugo and colleagues, followed by an avifaunal survey by Abner Bucol and others and a discussion of its fishes and macroinvertebrates by Jessica O. Pacalioga and associates. Then, there are specific investigations of the skink Brachymeles by Ely Alcala and colleagues, Anguilliform eels by Abner A. Bucol and others, and finally, the Bago rivers terrestrial vertebrate fauna by Rogie Bacosa and associates. Carmen Menes and her colleagues then look at the socioeconomic aspects of living along Bago River. This paper is followed by a transition article that is a checklist of the introduced aquatic fauna of both the Bago and Jalaur River systems, annotated by Joji Linaugo and others. A hydrological study was done of the Jalaur River system by Nelson Golez, Ilda Borlongan, and Felizardo Lorque. Also at the Jalaur River research sites, Ely Alcala and colleagues studied the invertebrate and vertebrate biodiversity, Borlongan and others conducted a physico-chemical assessment, Imelda Olaguer and colleagues investigated seasonal changes and coliform load, and Reynaldo Dusaran and Randy Pabulayan assessed socioeconomic conditions. A look at the "Macrofloral Diversity of Balugbog-Putian Natural Park, Dingle, Iloilo, Philippines” by Ernesto Elefan and Nicolas Guanzon rounds out the full-length articles in this issue.
