MALACOLOGY LABORATORY
Animal Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences
University of the Philippines Los Baños
RESEARCH OVERVIEW
The Malacology Laboratory of the Animal Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences at the University of the Philippines Los Baños focuses on researches concerning the biodiversity, ecology, evolution and conservation of land and freshwater mollusks. These animals are some of the least studied but are overwhelmingly diverse in a tropical archipelago like the Philippines. We mainly use land snails, particularly the endemic helicostylines, camaenids, cyclophorids and chronids, as models to understand how an invertebrate species and community vary, adapt and evolve in rainforest and karst ecosystems amid natural and anthropogenic-induced perturbations.
We also conduct integrative researches on adaptive/non-adaptive radiation, cospeciation and coevolution of land snails with their symbionts and their predators and parasites. Biostatistical (e.g. linear and geometric morphometrics, ordination and ecological modelling), ethological and molecular biology (phylogenetics and DNA barcoding) techniques are also used to address these questions. The laboratory also carries out biodiversity surveys and community ecology studies involving macrobenthos in lakes, rivers and streams. Ecotoxicological researches using the lymnaeid snail, Radix quadrasi, is continuously being implemented in the laboratory. We use the different life stages of this species to determine the acute and chronic effects of heavy metals, organic pollutants, and microplastics on its embryonic development, morpho-anatomy and reproductive fitness which can help in habitat quality monitoring in the freshwater ecosystem.
