My research project delves into the intricate connections between demographic patterns of tree individuals, forest fragmentation, species traits, and climate in the fragmented landscape of Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. Anthropogenic activities have led to significant forest fragmentation in this region in recent decades due to the expansion of rubber plantations, causing profound effects on ecosystem dynamics. To gain an understanding of the demographic responses of tree individuals to fragmentation, we conducted a comprehensive study involving 50 permanent forest fragment plots. Over a period of 10 years (2012-2022), annual tree census data were collected to examine mortality rates, recruitment rates, and growth patterns. We also documented species’ functional traits, climate fluctuations, and fragment parameters to explore potential correlations between demographic patterns and factors such as species traits, climate variations, and the impacts of fragmentation.

AWARDS

• Chinese Academy of Sciences – President’s International Fellowship Initiative (CAS-PIFI) Awardee for Postdoctoral Researcher 2022-2023.
• Postdoctoral Fellow at Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2019-2021)
  
  

EDUCATION

2012/09 – 2018/12       M.Sc.-Ph.D. Ecology – Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA

2006/06 – 2010/04       B.Sc. Forestry. College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Banos, PHILIPPINES

RELEVANT TRAININGS

Analytical Workshop: July – August 2023. STRI-ForestGEO Workshop 2023, Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

Summer School: September 2017. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv). Leipzig, GERMANY.

Next Generation Forest Monitoring Technique. National Science Foundation. Online course: Texas Tech University, Texas, USA. Field course: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China. 2012/09-2013/08.

Advance Fieldcourse in Ecology – Xishuangbanna, China (AFEC-X 2011). Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan, CHINA.

PUBLICATIONS (LAST 7 YEARS)

2023               

Jie Gao J., Tomlinson KW, Zhao W, Wang B, Lapuz RS, Liu JX, Pasion BO, Hai BT, Chanthayod S, Chen J, Wang XR. Phylogeography and introgression between Pinus kesiya and P. yunnanensis in Southeast Asia. Journal of Systematics and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12949

2022               

Pasion BO, Duya MRM, Ong PS, Fernando ES. Twelve-year changes in palm populations from a tropical lowland forest in the Philippines. Community Ecology 23, 327–335 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42974-022-00109-3

Malabrigo PL, Pasion BO. Survival and Growth Performance of Planted Kandelia candel (L.) Druce Stand in the Philippines. Philippine Journal of Science 151 (1): 263-273.

2021               

Wills C, Wang B, Fang S, Wang Y, Jin Y, Lutz J, Thompson J, Harms K, Pulla S, Pasion BO, Germain S, Liu H, Smokey J, Su SH et al. Interactions Between All Pairs of Neighboring Trees in 16 Forests Worldwide Reveal Details of Unique Ecological Processes in Each Forest, and Provide Windows into Their Evolutionary Histories – Plos Computational Biology https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008853

Pasion BO, Barrias CDP, Asuncion MP, Angadol AH, Pabiling RR, Pasion Jr A, Braulio AA, Baysa Jr AM. Assessing tree diversity and carbon density of a riparian zone within a protected area in Southern Philippines. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2020.10.006

2020               

Alcala AA, Castillo ML, Malabrigo PL, Logatoc ELR, Pasion BO, Alcala RS. Mosses from Greater Sipit Subwatershed, Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, the Philippines. Journal on New Biological Reports 9(2): 262-268

Bejar SG, Galindon JM, Duya MR, Duya L, Pasion BO, Ong PS. Living in small spaces: forest fragment characterization and its use by Philippine tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta Linnaeus, 1758) in Mindanao Island, Philippines. Primates. doi.org/10.1007/s10329-020-00798-2

2019               

Roeder M, Liu J, Pasion B, Yasuda M, Slik JWF, Tomlinson KW. Wood density – growth – mortality relationships of lianas are similar to trees and respond to environmental gradients in fragmented montane landscapes. Journal of Vegetation Science          doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12809

Quibod MNRM, Alviola PA, de Guia APO, Cueva VC, Lit IL and Pasion BO. Diversity and threats to cave-dwelling bats in a small island in southern Philippines. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2019.06.001

Khaing TT, Pasion BO, Lapuz RS and Tomlinson KW. Determinants of plant composition, diversity and structure in a seasonally dry forest in Myanmar. Global Ecology and Conservation 19:e00669

2018               

Pasion BO, Roeder M, Liu J, Yasuda M, Corlett RT, Slik JWF and Tomlinson KW. Trees represent community composition of other plant life-forms, but not their diversity, abundance or responses to fragmentation. Scientific Report 8(1):11374

Galindon JMM, Pasion BO, Tongco MDC, Fidelino JS, Duya MRM, and Ong PS. Plant diversity patterns in remnant forests and exotic tree species-based reforestation in active limestones quarries in the Luzon and Mindanao biogeographic sub-regions in the Philippines. Ecological Research 33(1):63-72

2017               

Dayananda SK, Mammides C, Lee M, Pasion BO, Liu J, Sreekar R, Yasuda M, Quan RC, Slik JWF, Tomlinson KW and Goodale E. Topography and soil type are critical to understanding how bird and herpetofaunal communities persist in forest fragments of tropical China. Biological Conservation 215:107-115

Leles B, Xiao X, Pasion BO, Nakamura A, and Tomlinson KW. Does plant diversity increase top–down control of herbivorous insects in tropical forest? Oikos 126(8):1142-1149

For more information about Boni, you can visit his GoogleScholar and ResearchGate profiles.