Freaks of Madagascar Get Protection Plan

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 10 Apr 08;

Loads of freakish animals, from fingertip-size chameleons to bug-eyed lemurs, crowd the island of Madagascar. Now researchers have combed the island's nooks and crannies to create a map of critical animal hideouts in need of protection.

The map is part of a new plan to expand the current reserve areas, boosting the number of species protected within them from some 70 percent to 100 percent, the researchers say.

The plan is based on a new computer model designed to spot regions that would give refuge to the greatest number of high-priority species. More than 2,300 species, including ants, frogs, geckos, butterflies and plants, were included.

Two lemurs given priority due to dwindling real estate included Coquerel's sifaka and the Decken's sifaka. Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, is home to many species that are only found there, including lemurs (which are primates like us humans), three bird families, six species of baobab trees and the fossa - the mongoose-like mammal feared by the lemurs in the animated feature film "Madagascar."

Some of the animals highlighted in the conservation plan include:

Greater bamboo lemur - This critically endangered bamboo eater once roamed much of Madagascar, but is now isolated to a few restricted spots.

Giant butterfly (Pharmacophagus antenor) - Madagascar's largest butterfly lives in the island's spiny deserts and forests.

Malagasy poison frogs - These colorful, yet toxic, frogs are endemic to Madagascar.

Giant leaf-tailed gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) - A rain-forest dweller endemic to Madagascar, this large gecko has suffered habitat loss. (With no eyelids, this gecko uses its tongue for dust-removal.)

Amazing ants - Madagascar is crawling with the oddballs, including the Trap Jaw ant (Odontomachus coquereli) and the Dracula ant (Mystrium mysticum).

The study, detailed in the April 11 issue of the journal Science, also identified areas that had been neglected in past conservation assessments, such as the central plateau massifs and coastal forests.

Scientists unveil conservation roadmap for Madagascar
Yahoo News 10 Apr 08;

A vast study of the plants and animals unique to Madagascar was published Thursday in a bid to protect thousands of rare species found only on the large African island.

The island is home to two percent of the Earth's total biodiversity, and only in Madagascar can you find wild lemurs, as well as several species of butterflies, frogs, geckos and ants. Half of the world's chameleon species also live there.

A team of 22 scientists has drawn up a detailed plan to protect this unique environment from the ravages of modern life and protect some 2,300 species which co-habit on the island, the fourth largest in the world.

The team drew up a road map for the 226,642-square-mile (587,000-square-kilometer) island, considered one of the most significant biodiversity hot spots in the world, the Science study said.

They collected detailed data on the exact locations of animal and plant species across the island and then used special software to track their ranges and create special protection zones.

Those species at greater risk of extinction because their habits are fast disappearing due to deforestation, were given priority in the plan.

"Conservation planning has historically focused on protecting one species or one group of species at a time, but in our race to beat species extinction, that one-taxon approach is not going to be quick enough," said co-author Claire Kremen from the University of California, Berkeley.

"Never before have biologists and policy makers had the tools that allow analysis of such a broad range of species, at such fine scale, over this large a geographic area," she added.

"Our analysis raises the bar on what's possible in conservation planning, and helps decision makers determine the most important places to protect."

The study was carried out by a diverse group of 22 researchers from six countries gathered together from museums, zoos, as well as universities and non-governmental organizations.

"This study will serve as a blueprint to help Madagascar achieve its ambitious conservation goals in the most effective way possible," said Steven Sanderson, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"Madagascar has become a global leader in saving wildlife and wild lands, and we're enormously proud to support the Malagasy commitment to protect its natural heritage."

Scientists join forces to save Madagascar wildlife
Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 10 Apr 08;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaping lemurs and crawling ants are part of a massive plan to save Madagascar's wildlife, using a new method that could be applied to other "hot spots" of biodiversity, researchers said on Thursday.

Drawing on decades of field research about 2,315 species found only on the island nation off Africa's east coast, conservation scientists have mapped out a way to protect all these animals and plants, instead of concentrating on only a few and hoping that saves many of the others, too.

Earlier efforts have focused on one so-called umbrella species -- such as China's giant pandas or photogenic big-eyed lemurs in Madagascar -- on the theory that saving the habitat of these high-profile creatures will also save nearby species.

That is not necessarily so, said Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-lead researcher on the project, whose results were published on Thursday in the journal Science.

"That's one of the very clear findings of our study: if you develop a plan to protect all the lemur species, you're not going to get all the frog species ... You're going to miss a lot," Kremen said by telephone.

LEMURS, BUTTERFLIES AND GECKOS

Dozens of scientists and other workers collected data on the exact locations of wildlife across Madagascar, from lemurs to ants, butterflies, frogs, geckos and plants, then used this information to estimate the range of each species and determine which regions were most vital to saving the greatest number of species.

Species that have already lost habitat because of deforestation were given higher priority in the plan because of their greater risk of extinction.

The world's biologists have long flocked to Madagascar, where about 90 percent of species are unique to the island. Part of the reason for its profuse biodiversity is its varied terrain -- including rainforest, dry forest, lowlands and mountains -- and part is its geologic history.

Once part of the African mainland, Madagascar drifted away some 100 to 200 million years ago. It eventually attracted colonist species, including lemurs, whose ancestors probably rafted over on floating vegetation, Kremen said.

Lemurs and others then evolved and diversified to fill environmental niches on the island, she said.

Kremen stressed that the plan for Madagascar is at this point simply a map of biodiversity priorities, one of many factors to be considered when the country decides what places to protect. Others include human habitat and cost.

She said the Madagascar model could be used for other biodiversity "hot spots" around the globe.

Helen Crowley of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society agreed.

"We're going to have to make these decisions all over the world about which areas need to be looked after and conserved," said Crowley, who was not involved in the study.

This model could eventually be used to help scientists predict where species might go for refuge when habitats are endangered by climate change, Crowley said in a telephone interview.

(Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

Madagascan wildlife mapped using satellites
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 10 Apr 08;

Scientists have used ground-breaking satellite technology to examine in minute detail one of the world's richest wildlife areas.

High resolution images have been taken of the entire 226,657 square-mile island of Madagascar in a scheme designed to protect its unique natural heritage and safeguard its most endangered species.

Madagascar is regarded as a biodiversity hotspot and renowned for its variety of wildlife with 80 per cent of its 30,000 known species, from lemurs to brightly coloured chameleons, found nowhere else on the planet.

The international team involved in the unprecedented survey was led by conservation biologists at the University of California, Berkeley and included experts from both the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Natural History Museum.

Using high-tec tools that had previously never been available they were able to analyse a huge range of 2,315 species from six major groups: lemurs, butterflies, frogs, geckos, ants and plants over a wide area.

The blueprint produced could fundamentally change the way conservation priorities are mapped around the world.

Unlike most conservation projects which focus on a particular species the study used new techniques to identify the areas most important for saving the highest percentage of fauna and flora. The aim was to find the most effective areas for expanding the island's existing network of nature reserves.

The task was made more difficult by the complex distribution patterns of the Indian Ocean island's unique plants and animals, many of which do not overlap.

The team started with distribution, conservation and status data on all species in the six groups and then added data on habitat suitability from satellite images and several layers of climatic information including average monthly temperature and rainfall.

The research showed that conserving the habitat of only one group excluded up to 50 per cent of rare species from other groups. And giving priority to one group in any given area in Madagascar would exclude up to 39 per cent of all species.

The study has provided a map that highlights the areas and species most in need of protection. It also highlighted habitats overlooked in the past, such as coastal forests and central mountain ranges with small pockets of trees.

Madagascar's nature reserves have previously concentrated on scenic isolated blocks of forest, without an overview of how they are connected.

The study has resulted in a conservation plan that will build on the 6.3 percent of the island's land already under some form of natural reserve status, which currently protects some 70 percent of the species in the study.

The study recommends how the reserve system should be expanded within the target of an additional 3.7 percent to boost the number of protected target species.

David Lees, butterfly researcher at the Natural History Museum and a co-author of the study, said: "Our results have shown that basing conservation on the needs of single species groups like butterflies just isn't enough.

"It is now feasible to map the complex web of life in the world's richest wildlife areas to help guide tough conservation choices, and increase chances of survival in the face of climate change."

Alison Cameron, co-lead researcher of the project, at University of California Berkeley, said: "Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, which makes the government's commitment to biodiversity even more remarkable.

"Government leaders have developed a very progressive vision for social and economic development, in which the natural landscape is viewed as a valuable resource."

It is hoped the study will help the Malagasy government reach a commitment made at the World Parks Congress in 2003 when President Marc Ravalomanana pledged to triple Madagascar's protected area network to 10 per cent of its land mass.