Past and Present Distributions of Lemurs in Madagascar

Godfrey, Laurie R.; Jungers, William L.; Simons, Elwyn L.; Chatrath, Prithijit S.; Rakotosamimanana, Berthe

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-4705-1_2

Cited by 72 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…On the basis of these data alone, we cannot establish the timing and cause of their range contraction; however, we can assume a role of climate aridification because the Ankarana massif is now classified among the driest regions of the island (71)(72)(73). Interestingly, despite a poor fossil record, bones attributed to P. tattersalli were also found in the Ankarana cave system (72,73), suggesting that the paleodistribution of the golden-crowned sifaka was also much wider than today. The hypothesis that P. tattersalli saw its distribution contract as a result of climatic rather than anthropogenic changes is also supported by phylogeographic data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Genetic data suggest a natural prehuman origin of open habitats in northern Madagascar and question the deforestation narrative in this region

Quéméré

Amelot

Pierson

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The impact of climate change and anthropogenic deforestation on biodiversity is of growing concern worldwide. Disentangling how past anthropogenic and natural factors contributed to current biome distribution is thus a crucial issue to understand their complex interactions on wider time scales and to improve predictions and conservation strategies. This is particularly important in biodiversity hotspots, such as Madagascar, dominated by large open habitats whose origins are increasingly debated. Although a dominant narrative argues that Madagascar was originally entirely covered by woodlands, which were destroyed by humans, a number of recent studies have suggested that past climatic fluctuations played a major role in shaping current biome distributions well before humans arrived. Here, we address the question of the origin of open habitats in the Daraina region in northern Madagascar, using a multiproxy approach combining population genetics modeling and remote-sensing analyses. We show that (i) contrary to most regions of Madagascar, the forest cover in Daraina remained remarkably stable over the past 60 y, and (ii) the golden-crowned sifaka (Propithecus tattersalli), a forest-dwelling lemur, underwent a strong population contraction before the arrival of the first humans, hence excluding an anthropogenic cause. Prehuman Holocene droughts may have led to a significant increase of grasslands and a reduction in the species' habitat. This contradicts the prevailing narrative that land cover changes are necessarily anthropogenic in Madagascar but does not preclude the later role played by humans in other regions in which recent lemur bottlenecks have been observed. habitat loss | primate | population bottleneck | coalescent

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Genetic data suggest a natural prehuman origin of open habitats in northern Madagascar and question the deforestation narrative in this region

Quéméré

Amelot

Pierson

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The last of these, also the largest at the size of a chimpanzee, is a remarkably close mimic of the living South American sloths, with longer forelimbs than hindlimbs, very elongated curved hands and feet, and the loss of the necessary wrist and ankle stability for moving effectively on the ground (36,37). The monkey-like lemurs of the Archaeolemuridae were large brained, stocky quadrupeds with dental adaptations that closely parallel those of Old World monkeys, and locomotor adaptations for ground living, although they were undoubtedly capable of moving arboreally (38).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The primate semicircular canal system and locomotion

Spoor

Garland

Krovitz³

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

336

631

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The semicircular canal system of vertebrates helps coordinate body movements, including stabilization of gaze during locomotion. Quantitative phylogenetically informed analysis of the radius of curvature of the three semicircular canals in 91 extant and recently extinct primate species and 119 other mammalian taxa provide support for the hypothesis that canal size varies in relation to the jerkiness of head motion during locomotion. Primate and other mammalian species studied here that are agile and have fast, jerky locomotion have significantly larger canals relative to body mass than those that move more cautiously.generalized least-squares analysis ͉ mammals ͉ vestibular system

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“…Fossil lemurs have been found in Europe, America, and Asia, but there are only subfossils known from Madagascar (Burney et al 2008;Godfrey and Jungers 2002;Godfrey et al 1998). There are deposits of subfossil bones that contain several extinct species of lemurs, including some very large ones (Mittermeier et al 2006).…”

Section: Fossil Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%