Spatio-Temporal Change in Crowned (Propithecus coronatus) and Decken's Sifaka (Propithecus deckenii) Habitat in the Mahavavy-Kinkony Wetland Complex, Madagascar

Abstract

The crowned sifaka (Propithecus coronatus) and Decken's sifaka (Propithecus deckenii) are Endangered lemurs endemic to west and central Madagascar. Both have suffered habitat loss and fragmentation throughout their ranges. The goal of this study, conducted in the Mahavavy-Kinkony Wetland Complex (MKWC) in northwestern Madagascar, was to assess the effects of historical change in the species' habitats, and to model the potential impact of further land-use change on their habitats. The IDRISI Andes Geographical Information System and image-processing software was used for satellite-image classification, and the Land Change Modeler was used to compare the natural habitat of the species from 1973 to 2005, and to predict available habitat for 2050. We analyzed two forests in the MKWC occupied by P. coronatus (Antsilaiza and Anjohibe), and three forests occupied by P. deckenii (Tsiombikibo, Marofandroboka and Andohaomby). The two forests occupied by P. coronatus contracted during the period 1949-1973, but then expanded to exceed their 1949 area by 28% in 2005. However, the land change model predicted that they will contract again to match their 1949 area by 2050, and will again lose their corridor connection, meaning that the conservation gains for this species in the complex are at risk of being reversed. The three forests occupied by P. deckenii have declined in area steadily since 1949, losing 20% of their original area by 2005, and are predicted to lose a further 15% of their original area by 2050. Both species are therefore at risk of becoming even more threatened if land-use change continues within the complex. Improved conservation of the remaining forest is recommended to avoid further loss, as well as ecological restoration and reforestation to promote connectivity between the forests. A new strategy for controlling agriculture and forest use is required in order to avoid further destruction of the forest.

Predicting Land Use Changes in Philadelphia Following Green Infrastructure Policies

“…To evaluate the consequences of urbanization and the validity of possible NBS, social and environmental scientists are increasingly using highly detailed LULCC models [11,12]. Landcover models have been used to address general questions of landcover change and urbanization around the world [2,9,10,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]; however, only one other study models LULCCs under GI policies [28]. To predict precise landcover transitions and to answer specific questions of policy, future LULCCs need to be modeled at finer scales.…”

“…Most landcover models are created at a 30 m resolution using Landsat imagery [2,9,13,[15][16][17][18]27]; yet, small landcover features, like GI, require modeling at a much higher resolution, as GI projects can be smaller than 30 m. Similarly, urban models have been created at different levels of detail with varying numbers of landcover classes. Some studies present a broad overview of urbanization with only two landcover classes [10,19,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27], usually "urban" and "nature" or "nonurban." Other studies present more realistic models with seven to ten landcover classes representing many of the features in the urban system [13,15,16,18], such as buildings, roads, trees, and grass.…”

Use of Mangroves by Lemurs

“…For example, mangroves are said to be the preferred habitat of Propithecus coronatus at Antrema (Roger and Andrianasolo 2003 ), and were reported from there by four respondents in this study, while P. coquereli was reported to use mangroves at four different sites. However, most of these species’ ranges lie away from coastal and estuarine areas, and at inland sites the animals are restricted to deciduous dry forests (Andriamasimanana and Cameron 2014 ; Kun-Rodrigues et al . 2014 ; Rakotonirina et al .…”