BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Tropical depression “Pepeng” not only damaged human habitat but it also endangered animals and indigenous plants when landslides hit protected mountain ranges, conservationists said Wednesday.

Continuous rains from Oct. 8 to 10 displaced the animal and plant species nestled in the mountain slopes of Puguis in La Trinidad, Benguet, the forested areas along Halsema Highway and Mt. Pulag, the highest mountain in Luzon, said Reynald Yawan, Cordillera technical director of the Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Service (PAWCZMS), an attached bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Yawan said these were the first recorded landslides to damage mossy forests.

“Our biodiversity now is vulnerable to climate change. There was an increase in temperature, therefore, there was [also] an increase in the amount of rainfall that caused soil erosion and too much flooding,” Yawan said in a news conference.

The mossy forests are the natural habitat of the rare giant bushy cloud rats ( Crateromys schadenbergi), which make their home in the 11,000-hectare Mt. Pulag National Park.

When forests of Mt. Province eroded last month, the habitat of the civet cats (Paradoxurus philippinensis) locally known as “motit” (“alamid” in the lowland), was also disturbed, Yawan said.

The PAWCZMS released a list of animals now endangered by climate change, among them: the dwarf cloud rat (Capomys melanurus); the ground birds called Koch’s Pitta and the Luzon Water redstart; the Northern Slender Tailed Giant Cloud Rat, the Racquet Tail Parrot, and the Philippine deer.

The list also included endangered plant life like the dwarf bamboo, the Pulag Carpet Grass, the Pitcher Plant, the orchid, Bulbobophyllum spp.; and the Lipstick plant sp. (epiphyte).

The PAWCZMS said increased temperature may delay or prevent the blooming of food plants, which serve as food for the endangered animals.

“Mating of species may also be hampered or may not be realized at all. Highly adapted to cold temperature, fauna may also migrate to look for cold places and may die in the process,” it said.

“Climatic changes on the onset of wet and dry season, wild temperature swings, landslides, soil loss due to too much rain [lead to] habitat loss [which contribute to] wildlife endangerment,” it added.

Yawan said civet cats, which feed on coffee berry and other fruit-bearing trees in eroded areas in Mt. Province, may have already abandoned their old habitat.

“If the natural habitat is destroyed, our food chain will be affected and our source of food may also be affected,” he said.

Next to Mt. Apo in Mindanao, Mt. Pulag is the country’s second highest mountain at 2,922 meters (9,586 feet) above sea level. It is host to 33 bird species and home to others wildlife species such as fruit bat and Philippine deer.

During the last decade, conservationists have been concerned about the forests lining Mt.Pulag and Mt. Data which have been converted by residents into vegetable farms.

“To prevent the bigger impact of climate change, the encroachment and land conversion of these forest covers should already stop. The practice of kaingin or slash and burn must be also stopped,” Yawan said.