Introduction to the Madagascar Expedition

As well as boasting some of the most spectacular biodiversity in the world (lemurs, tenrecs, boababs, and over half of all known chameleon species), much of which is endemic, Madagascar has 3 very different forest ecosystem types: dry forest in the north, humid rainforest in the east, and spiny forest in the south. The Operation Wallacea surveys are currently concentrating on dry forests and associated wetlands of Mahamavo in the North, and the spiny forest surrounding Ifotaka in the south, with a view to expanding the research to include humid forest in 2012.

Forest Research Objectives
The Mahamavo dry forest ecosystem and adjacent wetlands, and the Ifotaka spiny forest system both have exceptional biodiversity, but much remains to be discovered. Diurnal lemurs include Coquerel's Sifaka Propithecus coquereli, Common Brown Lemur Eulemur fulvus; Mongoose lemur Eulemur mongoz; Lesser Western Bamboo Lemur; Hapalemur griseus, and the enigmatic ring-tailed lemur (in the spiny forest) with another 3 - 4 species of nocturnal lemurs. Madagascar is the global centre of diversity for chameleons. Several species can be found in Mahamavo including two spectacular large species, Furcifer oustaleti and Furcifer verrucosus. The wetlands support the critically endangered Madagascar fish eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides, a flagship species for the area, and Humblot's heron Ardea humbloti, an endangered species. Ifotaka supports populations of radiated tortoises and is one of the few areas where Alluaudia ascendens and Allaudia procera (rare dryland palm) co-exist.
The Mahamavo forest provides livelihoods for several neighbouring communities in terms of agricultural land, fuel and construction wood as well as some wild food, hunting and medicinal plants. The wetlands in the coastal area support fisheries, which constitute the main resources for coastal communities. However, within this complex, areas of dry forest have been set aside to provide biodiversity protection. In 2011 the Operation Wallacea teams will be completing a series of transects, covering the main protected forest areas and adjacent habitats. Data will be gathered on forest structure and communities of key taxonomic groups including birds, herpetafauna (chameleons and snakes) small mammals such as tenrecs, rodents and bats, and lemurs. The output from this work will be a report submitted to the Madagascar government and will provide a baseline against which changes can be assessed in future years.

The area surrounding Ifotaka is recognised as an international conservation priority due to its high biodiversity and the presence of a number of rare and endemic plants and animals. It is currently protected through a community managed programme funded by WWF. However there is a desperate need for biological monitoring in order to assess the effectiveness of the existing management programme, and to create a baseline of data to afford comparisons in future years. Operation Wallacea have been asked to design and run this monitoring programme for the "Nord Ifotaka" area in 2011, with a view to roll out the monitoring area to the larger proposed protected area of "Sud-Ifotaka" in future years.