MIRI, SARAWAK: The inaugural National Hornbill Conference 2015 has been hailed as a viable platform for those undertaking researches and conservation efforts dedicated on hornbills.

The three-day event, which concluded here on Thursday, hosted 23 speakers and 73 other delegates from around the world. Renowned expert Prof Emeritus Dr Pillai Poonswad from Hornbill Research Foundation under Faculty of Science of Mahidol University Bangkok, was the key speaker.

He was aided by conference’s co-organising chairmen Prof Andrew Alek Tuen from Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas); Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) deputy general manager (protected areas and biodiversity cooperation) Oswald Braken Tisen; director and professor of zoology at University of the Philippines, Dr Juan Carlos T Gonzalez; and international coordinator of Hornbill Research Foundation at Mahido University in Thailand, Ng Bee Choo.

Two new species of soil mites belonging to a new subgenus of the oribatid family Parakalummidae were discovered in the Philippines by Sergey V. Ermilov of Tyumen State University, Russia, and Leonila Corpuz-Raros of UPLB Museum of Natural History.

Their study is part of global effort to document the earth’s biodiversity towards conservation and enhancement of the remaining biotic resources. They published the article “A new subgenus and two new species of oribatid mites of the genus Neoribates (Acari, Oribatida, Parakalummidae) from the Philippines” under Zootaxa, Volume 3956, No 2.

Researchers from the University of the Philippines Los Baños have recently reported the prevalence of haemosporidians in understorey birds of Mt. Banahaw de Lucban, Quezon. Haemosporidians are protozoan blood parasites belonging to the genera Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon and cause haemosporidiosis avian malaria. The parasites are transmitted from bird to bird by vectors such as mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies, biting midges, and louse flies.

The UPLB Museum of Natural History participated in the Philippine Rice Research Institute’s (PHILRICE) rice biodiversity exhibit at the agency’s Rice Museum in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija which opened last 16 July 2015. The Rice Museum’s theme this year is “Colors of Rice” and featured exhibits delving on the wonderful gamut of colors associated with rice varieties from different places in the country.

Museum staff James DV. Alvarez, Jeremy Carlo B. Naredo and Michelle D. Alejado attended the said event and brought 76 rice insect specimens to show how important insects are in the life cycle of the rice plant. This was the also the first time that the Museum was invited to put up a display by PhilRice.

A collaborative paper on the design, fabrication and performance evaluation of a photobioreactor for the cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris (Beijerinck) co-authored by MNH curator for algae Dr. Milagrosa M. Goss recently won the NAST Outstanding Paper Award last July 9, 2015 during the National Academy of Science and Technology’s Annual Scientific Meeting at the historic Manila Hotel.

At the young age of 36, Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo has probably accomplished more feats than most of her immediate colleagues has done in their entire academic lives. This soft-spoken lady with a medium frame may look ordinarily among a throng of people but few now already know that she is standing among the giants of Philippine science.

Aimee Lynn, the daughter of UPLB-based entomologists Alberto and the late Adelina Barrion has just been awarded on 10 July as one of the country’s Outstanding Young Scientists (OYS) for 2015. The award, given by the National Academy of Science and Technology, is itself a recognition to the excellence and dedication of the Barrions to science; the father-mother-daughter trio are all OYS awardees, a record of some sorts.