Madagascar Dry Forests

http://www.air-mad.com/images/madmap_6regions.gif

Madagascar is an island off of the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is a 225,000 square mile island with a population of about 20,000,000 people. Specially, the Madagascar Dry Forests are an interesting set of Dry Forests on the western and southern coasts of Madagascar. With hundreds of endemic kinds of species, it is a biodiversity hotspot. Madagascar has been separated from Africa for over 60 Million years and created an entirely new type of environment on the Western and Southern Coasts of Madagascar. These Dry Forests have many types of species that are nowhere else to be found. These dry forests comprise of 3.2% of endemic plants and 2.8% of endemic vertebrate animal species, due to its unique evolutionary processes.

A Small List of Endemic Species

Giant Jumping Rat                                    Van Dam's Vanga

Flat-Tailed Tortoise                                  Appert's Greenbul

Angonoka Tortoise                                    Aye-Aye

Many Types of Lemurs                            Baobob Trees    
Types of Hippopotamus                   
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/madagascar_dry_forests.cfm

Aye-Aye
http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/aye_aye_1sfw.jpg

Giant Jumping Rat
http://www.zooborns.com/.a/6a010535647bf3970b0115713fd644970b-800wi

Flat-Tailed Tortoise
http://www.durrell.org/library/animals/madagascan-flat-tailed-tortoise2.jpg

Historically, indigenous people from Africa inhabited it until recently. They kept the dry forests in a natural state until the French conquered Madagascar and its resources. In 1885, Madagascar was colonized by the French, which used the entire island to future their economy. Under this rule, the French took advantage and established many crop fields. They used the native Madagascar people as slaves to work the fields and destroy their ecosystem. Since becoming independent in 1960 from French rule, Madagascar’s economy has been rising slowly, but surely. It is due to the government’s use of the land, especially their dry forests. Exporting makes 28% of its GDP, which is due to its agriculture (WWF). The forests have dramatically changed since its colonization. Many types of lemurs, aye-ayes, and hippopotamuses have gone extinct. 

GDP of Madagascar by Sector
Agriculture               26%
Products--rice, livestock, seafood, coffee, vanilla, sugar, cloves, cotton, sisal, peanuts, and tobacco.
Industry                    16%
Types--processed food, clothing, textiles, mining, paper, refined petroleum products, glassware, construction, soap, cement, tanning.
Services                    58%

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5460.htm

Deforestation of the Madagascar Dry Forests
http://images.wildmadagascar.org/pictures/morondava-tulear/moron_tulear236.jpg

These human impacts have left Madagascar Dry Forests in Critical/Endangered conservation status (WWF). Most of the forests have been cleared by slash and burn agriculture. This slash and burn approach have made the dry forests look more like grasslands with having just short grasses instead of many types of deciduous trees. Without these endemic trees, the natural animals are unable to survive, which results in the death of many endemic species like the lemurs. Furthermore, humans have plastered some of the forests and used the wood as firewood. Fires are starting to erupt and degrade forests even further. These dry forests are not adapted to fire, which destroys even more land and changes the landscape. This has eroded the land, which makes some parts of the land unable to Dry Forest landmasses have decreased from huge sizes of 5000 square miles to clumps of 500 square miles (eoearth). The GDP has steadily rose since 2000 and will continue to rise because the Madagascar government has exploited the dry forests for its resources and looked more towards their economy than their dry forests' sustainability. 

http://www.eoearth.org/images/145396/500x0/scale/Anjajavyforestaerialphoto.jpg

The future prospects of the Madagascar Dry Forests are very ugly. Madagascar’s Dry Forests Vegetation has decreased 9.9% of its original extent and been fragmenting the native habitat (WWF). 97% of the island’s dry deciduous western forests have been destroyed since the French colonized it (Ecoregions). The World Wide Fund For Nature has designated it as a Global 200 Ecoregion. Unless people start looking at this environment more, it will be destroyed, which will in turn destroy the many unique and endemic plants and animals. The government has created some types of national parks and reserves to protect such as Ankarana Special Reserve, Kirindy Forest, and Anjajavy Forest. The Madagascar Government has to educate their people about these major problems. The WWF has been have included the development of management plans for existing parks, training for park staff, and workshops to help women learn how to build fuel-efficient stoves that reduce household wood and charcoal consumption by 40% (WWF). There have been many small steps towards a better tomorrow, but there needs to dramatically increased to manage and restore the dry forests that Madagascar has left. 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2388845?seq=4

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20madagascar.htm

The problems in the Madagascar Dry Forests need to be more publicized. The Tropical Forests in Madagascar get all of the publicity, but the dry forests are deforested at an equal rate of the tropical forests. The Madagascar government needs to develop more conservation laws to protect the forests from its deforestation and farming practices. Urbanization is a huge problem in this area, meaning more people are invading the land. Since 98% of the forests are owned publicly, it makes up to the government to protect the forests. The government has protected some areas by making them national forests, parks, and reserves, but most of the land is open and unprotected. In 1994, a study by Robert Sussman and Armond Rakotozafy showed that only 62% of the dry forests were native. Since these dry forests are on an island, it makes the forests more susceptible to foreign agents than other ecosystems on a huge landmass. These non-native species have changed the destroyed some of the native species and dramatically changed the outlook of the dry forests. The wildfires that have burnt through the dry forests have caused irreversible damage because of the size of the landmass. Old Growth forests also have taken a huge damage, 43% of old growth forests have been destroyed. That means many of the forests that are still living are very young and may be non-native. The government needs to protect more old growth dry forests. They should try to prevent the introduction of non-native species to the environment and maintain the natural habitat. 

           
            The Madagascar Dry Forests are an interesting set of forests not found in any other region. Being associated with Tropical Rain Forests make these Dry Forests seem less important in the community, but these are being destroyed as much if not more than any other type of forests. If I had a chance to choose any other ecoregion, I would stand behind my choice for the Madagascar Dry Forests because these forests are a rare ecoregion that cannot be found in any other part of the world. It is not as known as the tropical rain forests and not talked about as much, but because it is so unique to the world, I feel that it warrants more protection, otherwise we will lose a very special ecosystem and a great contribution to the world's biodiversity.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/naturelibrary/images/ic/credit/640x395/t

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References
Newby, John E. "Madagascar Dry Forests." WWF. WWF, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/madagascar_dry_forests.cfm>.

Hogan, Michael C. "Madagascar Dry Deciduous Forests." Madagascar Dry Deciduous Forests. WWF, 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Madagascar_dry_deciduous_forests?topic=49597>.

Crowney, Helen. "Southern Africa: Northwestern Madagascar." Wildlife Conservation, Endangered Species Conservation. WWF, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/at0202>.

"Background Note: Madagascar." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, 7 May 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5460.htm>.

Butler, Rheti A. "Threats to Madagascar's Biodiversity and Ecosystems." Madagascar: Environmental Profile. WildMadagascar.org, 4 Feb. 2004. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20madagascar.htm>.

Sussman, Robert W., and Armond Rakotozafy. "Plant Diversity and Structural Analysis of a Tropical Dry Forest in Southwestern Madagascar." JSTOR. The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 3 Sept. 1994. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2388845>.