Conservation In Madagascar Research Articles

More than 15 years of Amphibian conservation in Madagascar under the flag of IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group

More than 15 years of Amphibian conservation in Madagascar under the flag of IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group

MADAGASCAR: A BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT STILL REVEALING ITS BOTANICAL TREASURES

SummaryThe status of Madagascar's plant diversity is briefly reviewed, together with a consideration of the key threats and approaches used in conserving this unique flora. The role of the Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre is reviewed in relation to species discovery and conservation.

<p><strong>Two new species of <em>Aloe</em> (Asphodelaceae) from the Eastern Humid Forest of Madagascar</strong></p>

Two new species of Aloe were found in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar during a Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre (KMCC) Team expedition in November 2014. The first species, Aloe vatovavensis is rare in this habitat. The second, Aloe rakotonasoloi, exhibits characters that are intermediate between the features of Aloe s.str. and the related genus Lomatophyllum (now Aloe sect. Lomatophyllum). Despite being one of the most species-rich areas for plant diversity, only a few species of Aloe—typically those of Aloe sect. Lomatophyllum—have been recorded in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar to-date.

Synthèse et analyse de données sur les inventaires de plantes médicinales de Madagascar

Background : Madagascar, a big island in the Indian Ocean is one of the countries of hotspot biodiversity in the world. Among this biological richness, medicinal plants hold an important place in the everyday life of Malagasy people. However, the documentation on the uses of medicinal plants is still scarce and the synthesis of related works dated back to 1990. Methodes : This study was conducted by referring to 99 publications. The most cited taxa are determined according to the values of their frequency of citation. The fidelity level of species related to each disease is calculated using the formula of Friedmann et al . Results: The medicinal plants inventoried in Madagascar consist of 3245 species, of which 60% are endemic. Croton L. (98 species) , Helichrysum Mill. (46 species) Noronhia Stadtm. ex Thouars, (39 species) et Psychotria L. (29 species) are the most represented genera. Albizia Durazz. (23,5%) , Aloe A. Rich. (22,7 %) and Aphloia (DC.) Benn. (22,7%) are the most cited ones. The first three most diversified families are the same as those the mostly cited, namely Fabaceae (279 species), Asteraceae (238 species), and Rubiaceae (218 species). Psiadia altissima (DC.) Drake and Cinnamosma macrocarpa H. Perrier are the two first endemic autochthon species which are the most frequently cited. Harungana madagascariensis Lam. ex Poir. for the non endemic autochthon species and Lantana camara L. for the introduced species. The digestive and genito-urinary disorders, traumatic affections, poisoning and other consequences of external origins are the most predominant diseases treated with plants. The fidelity levels of the first five species used to treat these groups of diseases range between 50 and 95.5%. These diseases also belong to the most morbid ones in Madagascar. Conclusions: The present study highlight the actual state of Madagascan medicinal plants and the corresponding ailments. These data are useful to direct the future projects of biodiversity conservation in Madagascar and pharmacological and ethnobotanical investigations of medicinal plants. Key words: Madagascar, medicinal plants, actual state, most diversified and cited species

2019 ATBC Honorary Fellows

In 1963, the Council of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation established the election of Honorary Fellows as “persons of long distinguished service to tropical biology.” This is the highest award given by the Association: To date more than 80 Honorary Fellows from over 15 countries have been elected by the Council. This year, we are fortunate to have two outstanding Fellows. On behalf of The Honorary Fellow Nomination Committee, we present the 2019 Honorary Fellows as follows: Professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy is a renowned Malagasy primatologist who has made substantial contributions to the conservation of Madagascar’s imperiled biodiversity, especially saving iconic, evolutionary unique and endemic Malagasy primates from the brink of extinction, through his research, teaching and outreach activities. His efforts in environmental protection and conservation in Madagascar has been internationally recognized with prestigious awards like the Disney Conservation Hero Award. He has been invited to present seminars worldwide. Professor Ratsimbazafy earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from SUNY Stony Brook University, New York (2002), and is currently the President of GERP (Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar), an organization that advocates for the conservation of lemurs. He is also a Professor in the Department of Paleontology and Anthropology at the University of Antananarivo and has been a mentor for many young Malagasy anthropologists. He has been a very active researcher and has published more than 90 scientific papers. He has also been an active member of various national and international conservation organizations. He is currently serving as the Vice-Chair of IUCN’s Primate Specialist Group—Madagascar section, and as a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Primatology and the Madagascar Conservation and Development journal. He also served as Co-Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for ATBC 2019 and was one of the keynote speakers (Figure 1). Dr. Goodman received his PhD from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He is a MacArthur Field Biologist on staff for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and has spent three decades documenting biodiversity in Madagascar as a conservation biologist in residence in collaboration with WWF. His research interests include inventories of poorly known forest areas, description of animals and their natural history in Madagascar. He has written and edited some of the most important books for natural history and biological conservation of fauna and flora in Madagascar, including Natural History of Madagascar (2003), Extinct Madagascar (2014) and most recently, a recent three volume set “Terrestrial Protected Areas of Madagascar” (2019). He has made critical contributions to education and capacity building for conservation biology in Madagascar. He is the founder of the Association Vahatra, a grassroots organization that promotes conservation of native fauna in Madagascar, while training the next generation of biologists and conservation scientists. For these activities, he has been recognized by many awards, including Conservation Leadership Award of WWF (2004), MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2005) and Leopold Prize of the American Society of Mammalogy (2018). He served as a key member of the Scientific Committee of ATBC Annual Meeting in 2019, gave a keynote presentation and was instrumental in securing funding to support the participation of Malagasy students (Figure 2).

Anthropogenic disturbance effects remain visible in forest structure, but not in lemur abundances

The persistence of tropical rainforests, together with their flora and fauna, is highly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances. In this study, we investigate to what extent selective logging influences the structure and composition of a tropical rainforest in Madagascar and subsequently lemur encounter rates and cluster sizes. We quantified forest structure variables and conducted transect surveys of seven sympatric diurnal lemur species in five protected forest sites with different logging histories. We found that DBH, tree height, the interquartile ranges of DBH and tree height (measure of forest heterogeneity), tree species and family richness were relatively high and tree density was relatively low in less disturbed compared to disturbed sites. Although the disturbed forests have not fully recovered to previous conditions, they seem to have recovered from a functional perspective into suitable lemur habitat, as lemur encounter rates and cluster sizes were similar in disturbed and less disturbed sites. We only found slightly higher encounter rates for Varecia variegata (P = 0.078) and lower encounter rates for Eulemur rufifrons (P = 0.059) in less disturbed forests. This is one of the first studies that report the presence of V. variegata, a species characterised by its drastic decline, in previously logged sites. Lemurs travelling between disturbed and less disturbed sites disperse seeds and hereby facilitate forest regeneration. Therefore, we promote the need for better attention to the value of logged forests for biodiversity conservation in Madagascar and suggest that there is considerable potential for regenerating logged forests to support lemur communities.

Aloe belitsakensis (Asphodelaceae): a new species from north-western Madagascar

Madagascar is a major centre of diversity for the leaf-succulent genus Aloe Linnaeus (1753: 319) accounting for roughly a third of Aloe species (Carter et al. 2011). Approximately 128 species and 161 taxa are known from the region and all are restricted to Madagascar (Rakotoarisoa et al. 2014) and/or the nearby Mascarene archipelago. New taxa are described from these islands at a rate that rivals the ongoing discovery of aloes elsewhere in their natural range, on the African continent or Arabian Peninsula (Crouch et al. 2013). Extinction risks are alarmingly high among species of Aloe in this region. Conservatively, 39% of species are known to be threatened, and this figure is likely to be significantly higher (Rakotoarisoa et al. 2014), since several species have not been observed or collected for many decades. The Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre (KMCC) aims to record and collect the rare and threatened flora of Madagascar to ensure its conservation, and the genus Aloe is a priority for the dryland programme.

Managing coral reef fish community biomass is a priority for biodiversity conservation in Madagascar

Managing coral reef fish community biomass is a priority for biodiversity conservation in Madagascar

A history of conservation politics in Madagascar

In this article, I argue that reconciling conservation and livelihoods in Madagascar requires an examination of the historical processes and political-economic systems through which the strong foreign influence on conservation has formed. I begin by documenting how a group of scientists and policy-makers came together in the 1970s and 1980s to mobilize global attention to the importance of protecting Madagascar’s flora and fauna. I illustrate how their influence materialized not only through formal political negotiations and bureaucratic practice but also via informal collaborations across multiple geographic and institutional sites. Then, I examine how the critical historical conjuncture of the mid-1980s—with its emphasis on biodiversity, sustainable development and neoliberalism—prompted a reconfiguration in power relations among public, private, and nonprofit actors. This reconfiguration provided the political-economic context for the transformation of a scientific campaign into a well-funded foreign aid agenda, encompassed in the Madagascar National Environmental Action Plan. I illustrate how, although numerous actors advocated for integrated conservation and development approaches throughout Madagascar’s environmental history, the political, scientific, and financial strength behind the international conservation lobby often overpowered the push for more comprehensive or integrated development approaches. Finally, I conclude by arguing that effective and equitable conservation in Madagascar will require transforming the power relations that have both created Madagascar’s environmental crisis and efforts to redress it.

Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence on the True Local Welfare Costs of Forest Conservation in Madagascar: Are Discrete Choice Experiments a Valid ex ante Tool?

Summary Protected areas may impose local welfare costs through the enforcement of use restrictions. Predicting their welfare impacts before their establishment could help with the design of compensation schemes. Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are increasingly used for ex ante evaluations but their validity is largely untested in low-income settings. Using a case study of a new REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) project in eastern Madagascar, we explore the validity of DCEs in two ways: (i) whether the estimates of welfare costs derived from DCE are affected by respondents’ prior experience of conservation (ii) whether DCE results have high theoretical and content validity. We surveyed households who have varying degrees of experience of restrictions to swidden agriculture. We also qualitatively debriefed a sub-sample of respondents to better understand their thought processes. Latent class analysis shows that DCE outcomes vary with conservation experience. Households more experienced with forest protection are less willing to trade-off rights to clear forest for swidden agriculture with any compensatory interventions whereas less experienced households highly favor support for alternative agricultural techniques and a secure right to clear one hectare of forest. Although the results show apparent non-attendance to some attributes (e.g., cash payments), qualitative debriefings suggest that respondents infact do expect relatively low or no utility from the given attributes and hence have theoretically valid preferences. Similarly, the DCE has generally high content validity. Although DCE can elicit current preferences in this context, using ex ante DCE to estimate the welfare costs of such a long-term intervention requires caution. We conclude that it is difficult to robustly estimate compensation in advance of an intervention, there is therefore a need to rethink conservation approaches, and the feasibility of achieving fair compensations for conservation-imposed restrictions.

The Use of an Invasive Species Habitat by a Small Folivorous Primate: Implications for Lemur Conservation in Madagascar.

The lemurs of Madagascar are among the most threatened mammalian taxa in the world, with habitat loss due to shifting cultivation and timber harvest heavily contributing to their precarious state. Deforestation often leads to fragmentation, resulting in mixed-habitat matrices throughout a landscape where disturbed areas are prone to invasion by exotic plants. Our study site, the Mandena littoral forest (southeast Madagascar), is a matrix of littoral forest, littoral swamp, and Melaleuca swamp habitats. Here, Melaleuca quinquenervia has invaded the wetland ecosystem, creating a mono-dominant habitat that currently provides the only potential habitat corridor between forest fragments. We sought to understand the role of this invasive Melaleuca swamp on the behavioral ecology of a threatened, small-bodied folivore, the southern bamboo lemur (Hapalemur meridionalis). We collected botanical and behavioral data on four groups of H. meridionalis between January and December 2013. Our results confirm Melaleuca swamp as an important part of their home range: while lemurs seasonally limited activities to certain habitats, all groups were capable of utilizing this invasive habitat for feeding and resting. Furthermore, the fact that Hapalemur use an invasive plant species as a dispersal corridor increases our knowledge of their ecological flexibility, and may be useful in the conservation management of remaining threatened populations.

Conservation in Madagascar

Conservation in Madagascar

Editorial: Community-based conservation in Madagascar, the ‘cure-all’ solution?

Editorial: Community-based conservation in Madagascar, the ‘cure-all’ solution?

Community forest rights established for baobab conservation in Madagascar

Community forest rights established for baobab conservation in Madagascar

Achieving Sustainable Conservation in Madagascar: The Case of the Newly Established Ibity Mountain Protected Area

Globally, the number of protected areas (PAs) has increased exponentially during the last 25 years, particularly in biodiversity-rich developing countries. Many recent initiatives have integrated local-scale socio-economic development into both design and management. Because the rates of deforestation and species extinction are increasing in most parts of the world, substantial efforts have been made to build and strengthen local environmental organizations, to establish new protected areas (NPAs), and to improve natural resource management. An NPA was recently established at Ibity Massif in central Madagascar, where a community-based conservation project is being coordinated by the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG). In December 2008, a temporary protection order was issued, and definitive establishment of the NPA, which falls under Category V of the IUCN PA system, is expected before the end of 2015. This initiative has involved significant outreach and community education programs to raise awareness of Ibity's conservation and economic importance and the threats to its biodiversity, along with ongoing efforts to reduce fire frequency and implement ecological restoration projects with significant local community participation. In order to ensure the sustainability of this NPA, a co-management plan has been implemented involving MBG, local authorities, and the local population. This study describes the diagnostic process undertaken at Ibity in order to: 1) disseminate the data gathered to inform establishment of the NPA; and 2) summarize the initial state of the environment on the massif prior to the implementation of a management plan, as a baseline for assessing the NPA's effectiveness.

Tourism and conservation in Madagascar: The importance of Andasibe National Park

Madagascar is renowned for high levels of biodiversity and endemism. As a result of its unique flora and fauna, as well as the high levels of human threat to the environment, such as illegal clearing, hunting and political instability, it is a critical global conservation priority. Andasibe–Mantadia National Park in eastern Madagascar is one of the most popular protected areas visited by tourists. Observations carried out in 2011 showed that even though there were some negative impacts associated with natural-area tourism, the benefits to both the local communities and associated biological conservation outweighed the negatives. Natural-area tourism at Andasibe is well organised, with many local guide associations having partnerships with international organisations and 50% of park fees going directly to local communities. Forest loss is a widespread problem in Madagascar, but at Andasibe the forest is valued for its ecological function and as a generator of profits from natural-area tourism. Exploitation of the park was not observed. Andasibe is an example of how conservation and natural-area tourism can work together in Madagascar for the benefit of local communities and the environment. However, with the current unstable political climate and lack of adequate wider tourism and conservation planning frameworks, awakening to its potential as a leading conservation tourism destination will not be a simple task. Conservation implications: This research demonstrated that ecotourism can be an effective means of achieving conservation objectives, whilst, at the same time, improving the livelihoods of local people. We caution, however, that governments can do a lot more to encourage and support the nexus between tourism and conservation.

The Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group as an example of how a consortium is enabling diverse zoological and botanical gardens to contribute to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar

Using the example of Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG), we look at the factors which contribute to the successful maintenance of an international consortium dedicated to the conservation of Malagasy biodiversity. We discuss the philosophy, mission and set-up of the MFG and how, over its 25-year history, it has enabled the productive collaboration of its diverse international members to achieve the common goal of helping to protect Madagascar's unique biodiversity. We explore the benefits of pooling resources to fund a stable base of personnel and infrastructure to maximise the conservation impact of contributions from organisations that might not otherwise be able to fund viable independent programmes and consider the benefits that accrue to partners in the consortium. We highlight specific examples of plant conservation projects set up as a result of the productive working relationship between MFG and Missouri Botanical Garden to reinforce the argument that like-minded organisations working in successful partnership can far exceed the conservation capacity of individual institutions.

Supporting Target 4 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation by Integrating Ecological Restoration into the Missouri Botanical Garden's Conservation Program in Madagascar1

The Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) is supporting community-based conservation at 11 priority areas for plant conservation in Madagascar. Our strategy for conserving these sites integrates a range of activities that include research and monitoring, the creation and policing of local rules to enable the sustainable use of natural resources, environmental education, the provision of alternatives to the unsustainable over-exploitation of natural resources, poverty alleviation, and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. While this approach is successfully conserving biodiversity in the short term and at local scales, over a longer time period these reserves will become increasingly threatened by a rapidly growing human population whose livelihood is dependent on natural resources that will become increasingly rare outside of protected natural areas. Extensive ecological restoration of landscapes surrounding reserves is a prerequisite in Madagascar for the long-term conservation of these protected areas and will thus be an essential part of a national effort to achieve Target 4 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Here, we describe our current restoration program, analyze its strengths and weaknesses, and consider the threats and opportunities relating to restoration in Madagascar. This information is used to identify key attributes for a proposed up-scaled restoration initiative that can serve to develop more sophisticated methods, strengthen expertise through training, and demonstrate the power of ecological restoration for achieving long-term, sustainable conservation outcomes, as called for by the GSPC.

Madagascar’s nascent locally managed marine area network

Since 2004, the creation of locally managed marine areas (LMMAs) in Madagascar has exponentially increased, highlighting the need for improved information sharing between communities and between support organizations. Until recently, however, these LMMAs operated in relative isolation, with little communication or coordination between LMMA community associations. Madagascar’s first national LMMA forum was held to address this need in June 2012 in the village of Andavadoaka, on Madagascar’s southwest coast. The forum brought together 55 community members from 18 LMMAs throughout Madagascar, representing a total of 134 villages. A principle outcome of this meeting was the formation of a national LMMA network named MIHARI, a Malagasy acronym that translates into ‘local marine resource management’. The nascent MIHARI network is an informal network that was inspired by the success of the LMMA Network in the Indo - Pacific region. MIHARI aims to facilitate peer - to - peer learning amongst coastal communities, improve communication, raise the profile and expand the use of the LMMA approach and serve as a unified lobbying platform for the interests of Madagascar’s traditional fishers. The creation of MIHARI represents a significant development towards uniting community - led approaches to conservation in Madagascar and highlights the significant role LMMAs can play in marine conservation on a national scale. This is of particular significance in Madagascar, a country with little capacity or financial resources to oversee large - scale marine conservation efforts, a problem compounded by both the vast coastline and geographical isolation of many fishing communities. Madagascar’s new LMMA network is leading the way for coastal community conservation in the western Indian Ocean and aims to serve as the basis for a wider regional LMMA network.

Climate change, predictive modeling and lemur health: Assessing impacts of changing climate on health and conservation in Madagascar

Deforestation and a changing climate threaten the health and survival of lemurs in Madagascar. An important component of lemur health, parasite infection can reduce fitness and survival outcomes. Future lemur parasite richness, abundance and distribution may be highly influenced by climate change. Current knowledge of lemur parasites is narrow in geographic and temporal scope, with sampling at a limited number of sites, and thus far, there have been no attempts to assess the effects of climate change on lemur parasite distributions. We used geospatial tools to predict the distributions of six lemur parasites of high frequency and pathogenic potential. We then assessed how anticipated climate shifts in Madagascar may alter the distributions of these lemur parasites in the future. Under current climate conditions, we found that the focal parasites exhibited widespread potential distributions across Madagascar, covering 12–26% of surface land area and 40–86% of forested area. Our analyses also showed that parasites responded differently to projected climate changes, with shifts ranging from a contraction of current distributions by 7% to an expansion of 60%. A predicted net expansion in parasite distribution may expose naive lemur hosts to new parasites, which could have a profound effect on lemur health. Those parasites with the greatest potential for harmful effects are predicted to experience the largest expansion in range. Predicting these changing distributions will be critical for assessing population health, improving protected area design, preparing for reintroduction efforts and addressing potential parasite risk in lemurs, humans and domestic animals.