Boracay Wetland Delineation and Community Structure Analysis in accordance to

Wetland Indicators by Ralph Tiner, 2017

I. Delineation of Wetlands
a. Determination of the stand to be sampled
i. An ocular inspection shall be carried out in the area to determine the
list of species in the area and map the disturbances and borders of the
suspected wetland.
ii. Once the species list has been finalized and the stand has been mapped
out the initial plot will be established in an area where there is minimal
disturbance and away from the edges of the community to avoid
contamination by other non-wetland plant species.
iii. A 10m radius circular plot will be established with 5m radius and 3m
radius plots nested inside for the sapling/shrub and herbaceous plants,
respectively (See Fig. 1). In each 1x1m plot, species will be listed and
identified. This will continue until the minimum plot will be
determined through a species-area curve where the point of inflection
or 80-85% of the species has been listed (See Fig. 2).
Fig. 1 Recommended plot for sampling of vegetation by strata from (From U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regional
supplement to the Corps of Engineers wetland delineation manual: Western mountains valleys, and coast region, version
2.0, ERDC/EL TR-10-3, Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS, 2012a.

Fig. 2 A species-area curve can be used per stand to determine the minimum number of plots to be established. In this case,
8 plots are sufficient to cover 85% of the over-all species listed in the stand.

iv. The occurrence of plants will be recorded per plot and the percent
cover will be calculated by dividing the species occurrence by the total
occurrence (e.g., Species X: (4/10)*100 = 40%.)
v. The plant species will then be classified according to Reed (1988,
1997).

Ecological Indices Value

Obligate [OBL] 1.0
 Facultative Wetland [FACW] 2.0
Facultative [FAC] 3.0
Facultative Upland [FACU] 4.0
Upland [UPL] 5.0

vi. Once the percent cover/frequency and the Ecological Index has been
determined for each species, the weighted average will be calculated to
determine if the wetland is an OBL, FACW, FAC, FACU or an UPL.
The value closer to the respective indices will determine the
classification of the wetland.
vii. Another method is through Prevalence Index, which will employ the
following formula:

viii. If the PI is 3.0 it is a positive indicator of a hydrophytic vegetation

however, the morphology of plants and the hydrology of the stand
should also be taken into account to finally delineate the wetland.

II. Community Structure of the Wetland

 a. After the preliminary tests on the wetland delineation, actual community
structure analysis can be performed using the standard English et al. method
(1997).
b. However, instead of the 10x10 plots, 10m radius plot will be used just like in
the delineation test. 5xm r for the shrub/sapling and 3m r for the herbaceous
plants.
c. Species diversity and evenness can be calculated based on the data gathered
using the Shannon-Weiner Index and Peilou’s Evenness Index.
d. Statistical Analysis (formulae used):

(1) Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) = Girth Breast Height (GBH)/

2
( DBH ) π
(2) Basal Area (BA)=
4
(3) Stand Basal Area= Σ BA of each species
Total area of plots
(4) Relative density = (no. of individuals of a species / total no. of individuals) x 100
(5) Relative dominance = (total basal area of a species / basal area of all species) x 100
(6) Relative frequency = (frequency of a species / sum frequency of all species) x 100
(7) Importance value = relative density + relative dominance + relative frequency (Hamilton and
Snedaker, 1984 in English et al, 1997)
(8) Tree Density (n ha-1) = No. of trees *10000
Total area of plots
(9) Sapling Density (n ha-1) = No. of saplings *10000
Total area of plots

(10) Wildling Density (n ha-1) = No. of wildlings *10000

Total area of plots

(11) Shannon-Wiener Index

' H'
(12) Pielou’s Evenness Index J= ' (Mulder et al., 2004)
H max
III. Additional Notes

IV. References/Literature Cited

English S. and Wilkinson C. 1997. Survey manual for tropical marine resources. 2nd ed.
Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science. Environ. Conserv. 29,
331–349.

English S., Wilkinson C. and Baker V. (eds) 1994. Survey Manual for Tropical Marine
Resources. ASEAN-Australia Marine Science Project: Living Coastal
Resources. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, pp. 68-80.

Environmental Laboratory, Corps of Engineers wetlands delineation manual, Technical

Report Y-87-1, U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station,
Vicksburg, MS, 1987.

Federal Interagency Committee for Wetland Delineation, Federal manual for identifying
and delineating jurisdictional wetlands, Cooperative Technical Publication,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service; and USDA Soil Conservation Service,
Washington, DC, 1989.

Hamilton L. S., and Snedaker, S. C. 1984. Handbook for Mangrove Are Management.
IUCN/ UNESCO/UNEP, Honolulu: East-West Center.
Mulder C.P.H., Bazeley-White E. Dimitrakopoulos P.G. Hector A., Scherer-Lorenzen M.
and Schmid B. 2004. Species evenness and productivity in experimental plant
communities. Oikos. 107: 50–63.

Reed, P.B., Jr. (Compiler). 1997. Revision of the national list of plant species that occur
in wetlands. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Washington, DC.

Reed, P.B., Jr. 1988. National list of plant species that occur in wetlands: 1988 National
Summary. Biology Report 88 (24). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Washington, DC.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regional supplement to the Corps of Engineers wetland
delineation manual: Western mountains valleys, and coast region, version 2.0,
ERDC/EL TR-10-3, Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg,
MS, 2010a

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regional supplement to the Corps of Engineers wetland
delineation manual: Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain region, version 2.0,
ERDC/EL TR-10-20, Engineer Research and Development Center,
Vicksburg, MS, 2010b

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2010a. Regional supplement to the Corps of Engineers
wetland delineation manual: Western mountains, valleys, and coast region
(version 2.0). ERDC/EL TR-10-3. Engineer Research and Development
Center, Vicksburg, MS.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2010b. Regional supplement to the Corps of Engineers
wetland delineation manual: Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain region (version
2.0). ERDC/EL TR-10-20. Engineer Research and Development Center,
Vicksburg, MS.