Abstract
AbstractReforestation in Madagascar often relies on a few tree species with known properties. Species selection may consider aspects like human use, growth characteristics and animal use. Here, we investigated the use of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) as a food source for vertebrates during the dry season in North West Madagascar. We observed 21 native vertebrate species (five lemurs, five bats and 11 birds) feed on or within C. pentandra during this period of low food availability, 48% of which are known seed dispersers. As a fast‐growing species, C. pentandra may therefore be suitable for inclusion in reforestation and forest restoration efforts to facilitate seed dispersal, natural forest regeneration and animal movement between adjacent forest fragments.
Highlights
Reforestation in Madagascar often relies on a few tree species with known properties
Ceiba pentandra was first introduced to Madagascar in the early 1900s for cultivation of its seed fibres (Montagnac 1952; Kull et al 2012), and it is distributed throughout the west of the island, from Sahamalaza-Iles Radama National Park (SIRNP) in the North West to Manja in the south west (Sussman & Tattersall 1976; Jenkins & Racey 2008; Hending pers. comm., 2019)
We conducted a short study of how many vertebrate species feed on or within C. pentandra in Anabohazo forest (S14°190, E47°540, ~250 m a.s.l.), a 1169 ha sub-humid, transitional forest in SIRNP, North West Madagascar
Summary
Reforestation in Madagascar often relies on a few tree species with known properties. We witnessed 21 native vertebrate species (5 lemurs, 11 birds, 5 bats) feed on or within the C. pentandra trees (Table 1).
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