Dr. Emmanuel Ryan De Chavez is the MNH’s curator for mollusks and currently facilitates the building up and improvement of the malacological collection. His research expertise is on tropical malacology, community ecology, evolutionary biology, and ecotoxicology. He is also an Associate Professor 5 at the Animal Biology Division, Institute of Biological Sciences where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses.
Dr. De Chavez took his BS Biology, Major in Zoology (cum laude) and MS Zoology degrees at the UPLB, and his PhD in Life Sciences at the Tohoku University in Sendai City, Japan. He’s been teaching undergraduate and graduate students for 19 years. He is also involved in the development of new courses, both in the BS Biology and MS Zoology programs of UPLB.
He was a recipient of the outstanding junior faculty award of the College of Arts and Sciences, UPLB in 2009, and has been a country representative, and a fellow at the 2016 Hope Meeting with Nobel Prize Laureates in Tsukuba, Japan.
Dr. De Chavez delves into studies focused on land snails to explain how a species and communities vary, adapt and evolve in rainforests and karst ecosystems amid natural and anthropogenic changes. He also conducts researches using freshwater mollusks as models to determine the effects of various heavy metals, and organic pollutants on the early development of invertebrates.
He is a member of the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau’s roster of experts and is involved with the Technical Working Group for Invertebrates of the Philippine Red List Committee for Wild Fauna. He is the current president of the Malacological Society of the Philippines, and a member of Unitas Malacologica.
Recent Publications
F Pogado, IKC Fontanilla, KN Tingson, ERC de Chavez. 2022. Macro land snail diversity and community assemblage in selected forest fragments of Leyte Island, Philippines. Philippine Journal of Science 151(5): 1713-1724
KMG Perez, JA Parcon, ERC de Chavez. 2021. Science Diliman 33(2):5-29. https://sciencediliman.upd.edu.ph/index.php/sciencediliman/article/viewFile/8775/7706
VGV Paller, D Macandog, ERC de Chavez, MGV Paraso, MCL Tsuchiya, JG Campang, JVR Pleto, MZ Bandal Jr, YCL Cabillon, AG Elepaño, JRM Macaraig, SS Mendoza. 2021. Science & Engineering Journal (formerly Philippine Science Letters) 14(1):158-170
JA Parcon, IL Lit Jr, MVC Camacho, ERC de Chavez. 2021.Diversity of Land Snails in the Karst Areas of Sta. Teresita, Cagayan Province, Luzon Island with Notes on New Distribution Records. Philippine Journal of Science 150(S1):525-537
Elvira, M.V., Faustino-Eslava, D.V., de Chavez, E.R.C. et al. Human health risk associated with heavy metals from consumption of Asiatic Clam, Corbicula fluminea, from Laguna de Bay, Philippines. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 36626–36639 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13298-7
BK Valdez, JA Parcon, ERC de Chavez. 2021. Malacofaunal diversity and distribution in the Masungi Georeserve in Luzon Island, Philippines. Philippine Science Letters 14(1):29-50
MV Elvira, DV Eslava, M Fukuyama, ERC de Chavez, JT Padrones. 2020. Ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in the bottom sediments of Laguna de Bay, Philippines. Mindanao Journal of Science and Technology 18(2):311-335. https://mjst.ustp.edu.ph/index.php/mjst/article/download/550/145
HB Lipae, AL Estabillo, IKC Fontanilla, ERC de Chavez. 2020. A new subspecies of microsnail from Masungi Georeserve, Rizal, Philippines. Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology 14(3):1-12. https://asbp.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PJSB_2020-003.pdf
JA Parcon, IA de Guzman, AL Andes, ERC de Chavez. 2020. Preliminary survey of the diversity and community assembly of macroinvertebrates in the watershed streams of Mount Makiling, Laguna, Philippines. Laksambuhay, The UPLB Journal of Natural History 7:5-17
AMO Huet, IL Lit, ALA Barrion-Dupo, ERC De Chavez. 2019. Morphometric analysis of wing elements of the genus Cleora (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in Mts.[Mounts] Guiting-Guiting and Makiling, Philippines. The Philippine Entomologist, 2019.
MV Elvira, ERC de Chavez, MD Eslava, MVD Espaldon, LE Cui. 2019. Journal of Environmental Science and Management (Special Issue) 2019:40-57
GA Batomalaque, GCL Que, TAB Itong, ARL Masanga, ERC de Chavez, IKC Fontanilla (2019) Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit 1 (COI) Profile of the Philippine Helicostylinae (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora: Camaenidae). Philippine Journal of Science 148(S1):1-13
BBV Uy, NM Cadiz, ERC de Chavez (2018) Ecological patterns of micro land snails along the altitudinal gradients of Mount Makiling, Philippines. Journal of International Society for Southeast Asian Agricultural Sciences 24(2):30-42
JC Chua, ICK Tabios, PGP Tamayo, LR Leonardo, IKC Fontanilla, RJC Fornillos, ERC de Chavez, T Agatsuma, M Kikuchi, N Hayashi and Y Chigusa (2017) Genetic comparison of Oncomelania hupensis quadrasi (Moellendorf, 1895) (Gastropda: Pomatiopsidae), intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum in the Philippines, based on 16s Ribosomal RNA sequence. Science Diliman 29(2):32-50.
ERC de Chavez, IKC Fontanilla, GA Batomalaque, S Chiba (2015) A new species of Helicostyla from the Patnanungan Island, Philippines. Asia Life Sciences- The Asian International Journal of Life Sciences 24(1):37-49
VGV Paller, ERC de Chavez (2014) Toxocara (Nematoda: Ascaridida) and other soil-transmitted helminth (STH) eggs contaminating soils in selected urban and rural areas in the Philippines. The Scientific World Journal 2014:1-6
EY Sy, ERC de Chavez (2014) Siebenrockiella leytensis (Philippine forest turtle) diet. Herpetological Review 45(3):487-488
CJB Factor, ERC de Chavez (2012) Toxicity of arsenic, aluminum, chromium and nickel to the embryos of the freshwater snail, Radix quadrasi von Möellendorf 1898. Philippine Journal of Science 141(2):207-216.
ERC de Chavez, AV de Lara (2003). Effects of zinc (Zn2+) and lead (Pb2+) on the early development of the freshwater snail, Radix quadrasi. J Med Appl Malacol 12:59-68.