CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES EXPEDITIONS

Philippines Biodiversity Survey

The Team, Exploration, Discovery, Outreach, Conservaton

From 1992 to the present, Academy scientists have developed a dynamic research program in the Philippine Archipelago - a large-scale biotic survey of Philippine coral reefs. These coral reefs represent some of the most diverse marine habitats in the world. Several hundred researchers, underwater photographers, educators, and conservation managers from the Philippines, the United States and Australia have participated in the discovery of new species of coral reef animals, and have provided information for schools, civic groups, public media, government agencies, and conservation organizations.

IZG Curators Terrence Gosliner and Gary Williams began exploring aspects of coral reef biodiversity on various islands of the Philippine Archipelago in the first part of the 1990s.  Their study sites subsequently formed the basis for the extensive Philippine coral reef exhibits in the Academy's Steinhart Aquarium. Today, many scientists from the Academy, other U.S. institutions, and the Philippines have taken part in Academy-sponsored field studies on islands of the northern Philippines, including the largest Academy expedition ever undertaken - the 2011 Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition to Anilao and Maricaban Island, as well as the Coral Triangle Expeditions of 2014 to Calatagan and Lubang Island, in 2015 to Mindoro and Verde Islands, and to the Dumaguete and Mabini regions in 2016.