UPOU-FMDS Opens up Opportunity for Students’ Thesis Experimentations on FMDS Perma GARDEN

As part of the 2023 program goals of FMDS Perma G.A.R.D.E.N (Growing Appreciation toward Resilience, Development, Entrepreneurship, and Nutrition), the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) of University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) starts accommodating students working with their research experimentations. The pilot undergraduate thesis study was started last 22 January 2024 by setting up the feeding platforms together with bird feeds, as a material to be used for observational study and serves as the feeding area for the birds where competitive interactions will be observed and monitored by a camera trap.

Mr. Nathaniel Mirandilla, an undergraduate student of Bachelor of Science in Biology (Major in Wildlife Biology) of University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), conducted the field experimentation as part of his study entitled “Prevalence of Interference Competition Between Introduced Sparrows and Native Granivores in an Urban Tropical Landscape, advised by Dr. Darlene P. Lovina, an Assistant Professor of the Animal Biology Division under the Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS) in UPLB. This study aims to determine the significance of interference competition by Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) to the native granivorous passerines of the Philippines. His experiment ended on 04 February 2024.

This initiative aims to involve students, within and beyond UPOU, in utilizing the Perma G.A.R.D.E.N. as a living laboratory for the purpose of conducting their thesis requirements.

Written by Raizza Anna Alforja ♦ Edited by Larry N. Cruz ♦ Crossposted from FMDS Website

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