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Feb 07, 2007 |
Science Diary: Lemurs of Madagascar - Back to the Field
A Science Diarist studying lemurs returns to the forests of Madagascar. Music Ambience: Birds and Sifaka Seed Feeding #1 and #2, Madagascar Dawn As humans disturb the habitat, this takes away forest from these different types of primates and creates a conflict. Welcome to Pulse of the Planets Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Today we travel to Madagascar with Summer Arrigo-Nelson, a scientist at the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments. Good morning! Or as we say in Madagascar, Salama. I am a researcher working in Ranomafana National Park. My project is to investigate the effects of habitat disturbance on the behavior and ecology of Madagascar's lemur species. There are at least 74 different types of lemurs that you can study. Lemurs are tree-dwelling primates, found only on Madagascar. But the forests of Madagascar are being threatened. Regions of Ranomafana were selectively logged from about 1986 to 1989. And during that time, precious hardwood trees were cut down by hand and removed from the forest, up to three hundred of these trees a day. Now in Ranomafana we're really lucky -- we didn't have chain saws that came in and cut down big areas of the forest, so even though there was disturbance, the forest is still alive and animals are still living in the area. My interest is in learning about what the different needs of the lemur species are, how they respond in the wake of disturbance, and then trying to work with management groups within Madagascar to determine how best to proceed in the future. Well here more about the lemurs of Madagascar in future programs. Our thanks to Earthwatch. Check out Summer Arrigo Nelsons blog on Pulseplanet.com. Pulse of the Planet Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation. Im Jim Metzner. ECOLOGY,Mammals,Conservation,Tropical,Lemurs Scientist: Summer J. Arrigo-Nelson |
