Biodiversity Hotspots: Madagascar

Biodiversity is the variety of different types of life found on the Earth and the variations within species. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. Biodiversity is important because it boosts ecosystem productivity where each species is, no matter how small, and all have an important role to play. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot because of its variety of unique animal and plant species. The native industrial people of this land harm it not allowing it to be a long lasting hotspot. Habitat destruction, fires used for agriculture, erosion, and high risk of species extinction are all things that have negatively affected this hotspot. This hotspot is specifically defined by its unique variety of animals and other species.

  

Madagascar alone has more than 50 lemur species, though poverty and rapid population growth is putting tremendous pressure on the environment

\Madagascar's biomes are savannah, desert, tropical rainforest, and several kinds of mountain ecosystems. The savannah is a dry grassland, while the desert is extremely dry and has little vegetation. The tropical rainforest is mostly on the eastern side of Madagascar. The mountain ecosystems are found in higher elevations. The savannah is found along the western side of of the island, where most of the rain has fallen on the eastern side. The desert is also found on this side of Madagascar. The tropical rain-forests are found on the opposite side of the savannah and desert biomes because most of the rain has fallen there. And finally, the mountain ecosystems are found on the middle of Madagascar, where the elevation is higher.

Madagascan Food Web 

While sheltering extraordinary concentrations of biological diversity, Madagascar has lost as much as 80 percent of its original forest cover. Slash-and-burn agriculture, mining and logging are among the main causes. Wetlands, including lakes, rivers and marshes, are also under threat from transformation to rice fields. ​​​​​​​​ The Net Primary Productivity (NPP) is approximately 2200g/m2/yr, and the stored energy, or biomass is 45 kg/m2. The ecosystem is diverse, with as many as 200 species of tree per ha, which includes hardwoods like teak, mahogany and yellow wood. The tropics is the richest area for biodiversity – tropical forests contain over 50 per cent of the world’s species in just 7 per cent of the world’s land. They account for 80 per cent of the world’s insects and 90 per cent of primates. 

Madagascar is among the world's poorest countries. As such, people's day-to-day survival is dependent upon natural resource use. Most Malagasy never have an option to become doctors, sports stars, factory workers, or secretaries; they must live off the land that surrounds them, making use of whatever resources they can find. Their poverty costs the country and the world through the loss of the island's endemic biodiversity.

Tavy is mostly used for converting tropical rain-forests in Madagascar into rice fields. Typically, an acre or two of forest is cut, burned, and then planted with rice. After a year or two of production the field is left fallow for four to six years before the process is repeated. After two or three such cycles, the soil is exhausted of nutrients and the land is likely colonized by scrub vegetation or alien grasses. On slopes, the new vegetation is often insufficient to anchor soils, making erosion and landslides a problem. Tavy is the most expedient way for many Malagasy to provide for their families
Forests that once blanketed the eastern third of the island have now been degraded, fragmented, and converted to scrub land. Spiny forests in the south are rapidly giving way to "cactus scrub" as indigenous vegetation is cut and burned for subsistence charcoal production. Viewed from above, Madagascar's rivers look as if they are bleeding the country to death as soil is eroded from the central highlands. Each year as much as a third of the country burns and 1 percent of its remaining forests are leveled. There is really little use bemoaning past environmental degradation in Madagascar. Now the concern should be how to slow this ecological decline and how to best utilize lands already degraded so they can support productive activities today and for future generations. Without improving the wellbeing of the average Malagasy person, we cannot expect Madagascar's wild-lands to persist as fully functional systems and continue to cater to the needs of people. Madagascar is increasingly the target of industrial developers that aim to transform landscapes for commodity production, including mineral extraction (ranging from gemstones to metals), energy development (extensive heavy oil reserves have been identified in the western part of the country), and plantation agriculture (large-scale oil palm and sugarcane cultivation schemes have been proposed). These activities could take a substantial toll on remaining habitats for the island's unique wildlife.




Endangered due to Habitat Loss