Roles of a forest corridor between Marojejy, Anjanaharibe-Sud and Tsaratanana protected areas, northern Madagascar, in maintaining endemic and threatened Malagasy taxa
Keywords:
COMATSA, endemic species, forest corridor, Madagascar, threatened taxa, conservation status, endangered species, fragmentationAbstract
Site-based conservation is widely recognized as a fundamental requirement for the maintenance of biodiversity. We carried out a rapid biological assessment from 17 March to 14 May 2011 in the southwestern part of the provisionally protected rainforest corridor between Marojejy, Anjanaharibe-Sud and Tsaratanana protected areas (COMATSA), northern Madagascar, to assess its biodiversity richness and species conservation status. We recorded 248 endemic vertebrate species, including 80 amphibians, 52 reptiles, 79 birds, 27 small mammals and 10 lemurs. Of these 248 species, 36 are threatened including one Critically Endangered (one lemur), nine Endangered (two amphibians, four reptiles and three lemurs) and 26 Vulnerable (10 amphibians, six reptiles, four birds, one small mammal and five lemurs). For herpetofauna species, the pair COMATSA – Marojejy was the only site that had a similarity value greater than 0.50. For birds and lemurs, values of similarity in three pairs of sites COMATSA – Marojejy, COMATSA – Anjanaharibe-Sud and Marojejy – Anjanaharibe-Sud exceeded those of herpetofauna in COMATSA – Marojejy. The inclusion of the COMATSA into the new protected area network in Madagascar is supported by our findings.
Résumé
Il est dorénavant largement reconnu que pour maintenir la biodiversité, il est fondamental de réaliser la conservation de la nature au niveau des sites. Un inventaire biologique rapide a été mené du 17 mars au 14 mai 2011 dans la partie sud-ouest du couloir forestier reliant les parcs et réserves du Marojejy, d’Anjanaharibe-Sud et du Tsaratanana (COMATSA). L’inventaire de ce couloir qui bénéficie d’un statut de protection temporaire dans la partie septentrionale de Madagascar, était destiné à évaluer la richesse de sa biodiversité et le statut de conservation des espèces de vertébrés qu’il héberge. Les résultats ont montré que parmi les 248 espèces endémiques de vertébrés recensées, 80 sont des amphibiens, 52 des reptiles, 79 des oiseaux, 27 des petits mammifères et 10 des lémuriens. Sur ces 248 espèces, 36 sont menacées, dont une espèce qui est en Danger Critique d’Extinction (lémurien), neuf en Danger (deux amphibiens, quatre reptiles et trois lémuriens) et 26 Vulnérables (10 amphibiens, six reptiles, quatre oiseaux, un micromammifère et cinq lémuriens). Ce couloir forestier présente un coefficient de similarité élevé, d’une valeur supérieure à 0.50 avec le Marojejy pour les amphibiens et les reptiles. Pour les oiseaux et les lémuriens, les coefficients sont encore plus importants, plus particulièrement dans les comparaisons COMATSA – Marojejy, COMATSA – Anjanaharibe-Sud et Marojejy – Anjanaharibe-Sud. Cette étude confirme l’importance d’intégrer le COMATSA dans le réseau des Aires Protégées de Madagascar pour renforcer la protection des espèces de vertébrés endémiques et menacées.
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