Danilo S. Balete

Danilo S. Balete (1960 in the Bicol Region of the Philippines – July 1, 2017), also known as Danny Balete, was a Filipino zoologist and biologist. His is known for his work on the Philippines' endemic mammal species.[1][2] He pursued the question of what determines species diversity. The research by Balete and his team overturned previously held notions that diversity decreased in mountainous regions, showing that harsh environments could generate, rather than suppress, species diversity.[3][4]

His research also included non-mammals and plants. He is credited for the discovery of several species of Rafflesia.[2]

Early life and education

Balete grew up in the Bicol Region of Luzon. He grew up on a small farm where he learned to ride carabaos and catch fish by hand.[5]

From 1984 to 1988 he studied at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, where he obtained the Bachelor of Science in Zoology.[6] In 1989 he became a member of the Philippine Mammal Project of the Field Museum of Natural History. He spent eight months of the year as an expedition leader in the rainforest and about four months with a research team from the Field Museum of Natural History.

From 1992, he completed a biology degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) at the invitation of Lawrence R. Heaney, where he graduated in 1995 with a Master of Science.

Career

In 2000, Balete began a 15-year long-term study of the mammals of the island of Luzon. The project team, made up of Filipino and US scientists, included Balete, Lawrence R. Heaney of the Field Museum of Natural History, Mariano Roy Duya and Melizar Duya of the University of the Philippines, Sharon Jansa of the University of Minnesota, Eric Rickart of the Natural History Museum of Utah and Scott Steppan of Florida State University. Of 56 non-flying mammal species, 52 are endemic to Luzon and 28 mammal species were rediscovered during this study. Also 57 species of bats occur on Luzon.[7][8] In 2008, Balete and Heaney on Pulagon, Luzon, made the rediscovery of the blacktail Luzon tree rat (Carpomys melanurus), a rodent that had been considered lost for 112 years.[9] In 2016, he published with Lawrence R. Heaney and Eric A. Rickart a book on the mammals of Luzon entitled The Mammals of Luzon Island: Biogeography and Natural History of a Philippine Fauna.[10]

From 2002 to 2013 Balete was a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. From 2003 to 2013 he was a research assistant at the National Museum of the Philippines.

From 2008 to 2009, Balete was a lecturer at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in Quezon City.

Balete was a member of the Haribon Foundation, the largest conservation organization in the Philippines.

Species described

Besides several rodent species, including Archboldomys musseri, Crunomys suncoides,[11] Apomys aurorae, Apomys banahao, Apomys brownorum,[12] Apomys iridensis, [13] Apomys magnus, Apomys minganensis,[12] Apomys lubangensis,[13] Apomys sierrae, Apomys zambalensis,[12] Batomys uragon,[14] Rhynchomys banahao, Rhynchomys isarogensis,[15] Rhynchomys labo and Rhynchomys mingan,[16] Balete described the four lizard species Brachymeles lukbani,[17] Parvoscincus boyingi, Parvoscincus hadros and Parvoscincus igorotorum.[18] Balete's research also focuses on indigenous members of the Rafflesia plant genus.

Honors

In 2006, Julie F. Barcelona, Mary Ann O. Cajano and Annalee S. Hadsall described the Rafflesia species Rafflesia baletei, which was discovered in 1991 by Balete on the Isarog volcano in the Bicol Region.[19]

Citations

The standard author abbreviation Balete is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[20]

References
  1. "New rodent species unique to Luzon discovered". GMA News Online. June 7, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  2. Alvarez, James DV. (10 July 2017). "Danny Balete: One of the finest field biologists the Philippines has ever seen". UPLB Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  3. Reyes, Rachel A.G. (January 2, 2018). "From Washington Sycip to Isabel Granada: Bidding goodbye to some of the notable people who died in 2017". The Manila Times. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  4. "Two new species of "tweezer-beaked hopping rats" discovered in Philippines". Field Museum. 2019-06-06. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  5. "Danilo (Danny) Balete". Expeditions. Archived from the original on 2016-07-02. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  6. Gatumbato, Errol A. "Danny B, a conservation hero". Visayan Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2017-07-10. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  7. Deutsche Welle: Cloud rats of the sky islands: 28 new mammal species found in the Philippines (19 July 2016). Accessed 16 November 2016
  8. Heaney, Lawrence Richard; Balete, Danilo S.; Duya, Mariano Roy M.; Duya, Melizar V.; Jansa, Sharon A.; Steppan, Scott J.; Rickart, Eric A. (2016). "Doubling diversity: a cautionary tale of previously unsuspected mammalian diversity on a tropical oceanic island" (PDF). Frontiers of Biogeography. 8 (2). doi:10.21425/F5FBG29667. ISSN 1948-6596. pdf
  9. LiveScience: Cloud Rat Rediscovered after 112 Years
  10. "UP Biology launched the book "The Mammals of Luzon Island" |". Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  11. Rickart, EA, Heaney, LR, Balete, DS & Tabaranza, Jr., BR (1998) A review of the genera Crunomys and Archboldomys (Rodentia, Muridae, Murinae) with descriptions of two new species from the Philippines. Fieldiana Zoology new series, 89, 1-24.
  12. Heaney, L.R.; Balete, D.S.; Rickart, E.A.; Alviola, P.A.; Duya, M.R. M.; Duya, M.V.; Veluz, M.J.; VandeVrede, L.; Steppan, Scott J. (2011). "Chapter 1: Seven New Species and a New Subgenus of Forest Mice (Rodentia: Muridae: Apomys) from Luzon Island". Fieldiana Life and Earth Sciences. 2: 1–60. doi:10.3158/2158-5520-2.1.1. ISSN 2158-5520. pdf
  13. Heaney, Lawrence R.; Balete, Danilo S.; Veluz, Maria Josefa; Steppan, Scott J.; Esselstyn, Jacob A.; Pfeiffer, Andrew W.; Rickart, Eric A. (2014). "Two new species of Philippine forest mice (Apomys, Muridae, Rodentia) from Lubang and Luzon Islands, with a redescription ofApomys sacobianusJohnson, 1962". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (4): 395–413. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-126.4.395. ISSN 0006-324X. pdf
  14. Balete, D.S.; Rickart, E.A.; Heaney, L.R.; Jansa, S.A. (2015). "A new species ofBatomys(Muridae, Rodentia) from southern Luzon Island, Philippines". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 128 (1): 22–39. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-128.1.22. ISSN 0006-324X. pdf
  15. Balete, Danilo S.; Rickart, Eric A.; Rosell-Ambal, Ruth Grace B.; Jansa, Sharon; Heaney, Lawrence R. (2007). "Descriptions of two New Species of Rhynchomys Thomas (Rodentia: Muridae: Murinae) from Luzon Island, Philippines". Journal of Mammalogy. 88 (2): 287–301. doi:10.1644/06-MAMM-A-090R.1. ISSN 0022-2372.
  16. Rickart, E.A.; Balete, D.S.; Timm, R.M.; Alviola, P.A.; Esselstyn, J.A.; Heaney, L.R. (2019). "Two new species of shrew-rats (Rhynchomys: Muridae: Rodentia) from Luzon Island, Philippines". Journal of Mammalogy. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyz066. hdl:1808/29417. ISSN 0022-2372.
  17. Siler, C.D.; Balete, D.S.; Diesmos, A.C.; Brown, R.M. (2010). "A New Legless Loam-swimming Lizard (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae: Genus Brachymeles) from the Bicol Peninsula, Luzon Island, Philippines". Copeia. 2010 (1): 114–122. doi:10.1643/CH-08-231. ISSN 0045-8511.
  18. Brown, R.M. et al. (2010) "Species boundaries in Philippine montane forest skinks (Genus sphenomorphus): three new species from the mountains of Luzon and clarification of the poorly known S. beyeri, S. knollmanae, and S. laterimaculatus." Scientific Papers Natural History Museum The University of Kansas (42): 1-27
  19. Barcelona, J.F., Cajano, M.A.O. & Hadsall, A.S. (2006) Rafflesia baletei, Another New Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae) from the Philippines. Kew Bulletin 61(2): 231-237 pdf
  20. International Plant Names Index.  Balete.
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