Flight from LondonThree projects
We had three projects that we were interested in; one was something that I really was keen to build on from our last visit last year where I spoke with local botanists who explained to me how, although there was a lot of money being put into planting trees through carbon credits, many of these projects were not succeeding. This was caused by invasive weed species and because trees were just planted as they would have been elsewhere, not taking into account Madagascar’s challenging growing conditions.
Madagascar is full of invasive weeds, some from neighbouring islands, which are like huge brambles of four or five metres tall – 25cm small tropical trees cannot survive under these conditions. The local botanists felt really frustrated and wanted to be able to demonstrate and prove that this was a problem, and get money in the future to be able to weed the trees in the future when they are being planted in so that the ecosystem restoration works. So I thought that I really wanted to go over with some students and help with that.
We found from our research that plants are typically grown in threes – a fast growing tree, a slower growing tree that bears fruit for the Lemur’s and other animals in the forest, and a slow growing tree that will provide a canopy. Our research found that the tree in the middle tends to manage best; with the fast growers struggling with a lack of light caused by weeds. We’ve managed to collate some really clear data on the growth of all of these.
Madagascar has many problems that have been caused by humans, from deforestation to a hugely increasing population. One of the big problems with conservation is that things are done but not monitored – this happens in the UK too, but all the more so in remote parts of the world. So we wanted to prove this on our visit, and we really were able to demonstrate clearly that if you have areas where you do control the invasive species, not only do more trees survive, but they grow much bigger and the whole forest restores much more quickly.
The other project we wanted to do was more exploratory, we wanted to go into places and see what wildlife were there. We took fifteen camera traps with us and set these up in various places which was fascinating. In one reserve, we were able to identify a rare species of brown Lemur that hadn’t been known to be in that reserve at all – it’s really shy so you don’t tend to see it. The fact that we had been able to find it was really great for the local people because they were unaware of it in that reserve.
AntanifotsyThe student perspective
SERTs are research teams interested in ecology, geography and environmental sciences led by student volunteers and mentored by university staff. They enable students and staff to work together on projects that benefit science and society.
It is vital for students to be out in the field, the best way to learn is to be part of a project where you can see it for yourself. There’s something really special about working side by side with researchers, where the students learn as partners. It’s also a great way for us as academics to stay refreshed – students look at things with different eyes, and will ask different questions.
It’s also great for students to hear directly from conservation organisations and to see some of the problems and solutions from their perspective. We might think, as ecologists, that it’s best to have no one in the forests, but local people would say that they really need people to visit the forest, otherwise there’s no economic reason for keeping them.
Many of us have seen amazing places on television and documentaries, but people must think, “What is it like to actually be somewhere like that?” and then you are able to go and see beyond where the camera points. In Madagascar, you can point a camera at some of the beautiful bits, you can also see devastation, but there’s an energy and enthusiasm in the local people to make something work. And we can contribute to that.
However you do contribute, via research, or becoming an educator, you may be able to spark others into action. This is what is so beautiful about taking people on trips like this; we are able to experience these things first-hand.
AntananarivoWestern Brown Lemur’s
Youseffa, a chief botanist, guide and local park ranger, did not know that these Lemurs were in his reserve. They were coming down from the trees, eating bamboo grasses and then shooting back up.
MasoalaThe Masoala Peninsula
The second location we visited was Masoala peninsula and reserve, and it’s the biggest remaining fragment of rainforest in Madagascar which is much unexplored. We arrived by boat and stayed in a hut beside the coast. It’s expensive to get there so fewer tourists go to the area. Because of this, visitors tend to be eco-tourists, but our students have been looking at how this might be a good thing, and how, if costs fell, more mainstream visitors would visit the area.
Maecenas eu facilisis enim. Proin faucibus quam arcu, at congue nibh pulvinar nec. — Anita Diaz
We were very lucky to be there for ten days and took our camera traps with us. We wanted to explore and find out what was there, and were really lucky to capture images of the Fossa – the biggest carnivore on Madagascar.
VavateninaFossa & Fitoaty
None of the big cats from Africa or tigers from the Indian continent managed to get across to the island, so Fossa remains their main predator.
Fossas are related to mongooses and are ferocious carnivores, racing through the rainforest and up into the trees, munching their way through Lemurs with no problem at all. They can run really quickly on the ground and climb beautifully with their long legs and balancing tail. These scoot through the forest chasing down Lemurs and are unusual, but we captured it in broad daylight suggesting that it operates all of the time.
We also pictured a really unusual animal through a blurry picture from one of our traps. The Fitoaty is like a feral black cat – they are bigger than normal cats that have come into Madagascar with people, but these are only found deep in the forest away from people. These have obviously evolved from domestic cats but they look like a new species starting to come forward. This is bad news for the forest, because for some reason these cats do fine away from people, feeding on forest animals and eating insects in the area. It was really interesting to get photographic evidence of these in the wild.
Nobody knows whether these are an equal predator to the Fossa – it was only in December 2016 that there was a proper scientific acknowledgement that Fitoaty even existed. The local people had given this fabled black cat the name, but they see it as a strange beast that lives in the forest. An international group set up a net of camera traps, found the animal and saw that it was different to the domestic cats that prowled near farm areas.
Madagascar has no native cat or dog carnivores, so this has introduced a very potent predator to the environment. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future. We don’t know how the balance will work out, as these are quite clever predators that are smart and have adapted to live deep in the forest.
MandritsaraMoths and Crane Flies
The third project was in collaboration with Bournemouth Natural Science Society (BNSS) who were very interested in looking distribution of a range of species. The scientist we were working with, Ashley Leftwich, was particularly interested in crane flies and moths and what controls the diversity of these species, including altitude and habitats, and how that might relate to different areas of Madagascar.
We set up moth traps at night – a sheet of material and a light that attracts the moths in, and as they came in, we photographed them and recorded their species. Ashley also had a licence to collect and take some of the moths back to the UK to identify them later on, with an idea of understanding what controls diversity in the remaining fragments of Madagascar. This is really important when we think about how to go about restoring forests and where to restore in order to connect up corridors and areas where species can disperse between.
Some of the moths with colours of iridescent purple were amazing, their glowing red eyes shining bright in the light at night. We also found Darwin’s moth, which Darwin predicted would exist after finding a flower containing nectar at the end of a 23cm long spur. 120 years later, this large moth with a long, curled tongue was discovered, living only in Madagascar. The moth and flower have co-evolved together.
Red-ruffed LemursBruxia
This is the world’s smallest chameleon, called Bruxia, and you can see how small it is by the size of the ants beside it. This is only found on Madagascar, and occurs in very few places as well. It needs to have rubbly ground, with tiny crevices to hide in. Everything will eat it, it’s a very defenceless creature, and occurs in very few places on only one continent.
It’s the middle of the day, the Lemurs have been feeding since the morning, and they’re not very interested right now in doing anything other than having a scratch, sitting on the edge of their range, and in their food tree for hours during the day.
If we were able to grown more trees, it would be fantastic, because Lemur’s need to have trees of different species especially fruiting trees. Lemurs do cope quite well with young trees, so they don’t need huge rainforest trees, but they do need a diverse forest.
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world. The problem they face is that trees are destroyed a lot by very hungry, poor people who need to get to land and grow their crops. Others cut timber for fuel, so there’s a really big demand for that land and Lemur’s loose out to that demand.
There are real efforts being made to restore forests, and if weeds can be controlled, this can be successful but this takes a lot of time and effort.
The other problem they face is that many of them are hunted for food; these are big animals and make a good source of protein. There are pressures on them from all sorts of directions. There’s also a lot of interest from the local people because they can see that the forests matter for them, they keep water stable and in the hills rather than running off in the rainy season, and they need to have a diverse forest just like the Lemur’s.
They also see that animals like the Lemur’s bring tourists in, which is a good source of income in a country that doesn’t have much of a source of income.
MasoalaSlash and burn
Deforestation goes on because there are a lot of poor people in Madagascar. People need to grow their own food, and as such, most deforestation occurs due to the need to grow vegetation. People also try to grow vegetables for a year or two, but as the soil is very thin, this doesn’t last. Also grown is hill rice, so called because of its prevalence on the inclines around forest areas, alongside the growing of eucalyptus wood, brought to the island by the French, which is used as fuel. Huge amounts of Madagascar have been nibbled away by deforestation, and once land has been exhausted, it’s often turned over to grazing for animals. Much of the land almost becomes desert because it rains so much, which erodes off any soils, hence why it is so important to get forest back.
Donec blandit mauris sit amet diam gravida tincidunt. — Anita Diaz