Case Study: Madagascar

Digital image. Web. http://www.oryxphotography.com/wp-content/gallery/gallery-tours-madagascar-birds-amp-wildlife/licking-ringtail-lemur.jpg.

 

1. Madagascar has high biodiversity and high rates of endemism because it is physically isolated from other countries. It is an island with a lot of different ecosystems such as deserts, tropical rainforests, deciduous forests, and mountains. This allows for many different types of plants and animals to live there. Also, these animal groups are different from animal groups on other continents, because they have evolved over time on this island.
2. There are many pressures that have led to high extinction rates on Madagascar. These pressures almost all have to do with humans and our human impact on Madagascar. Humans have hunted the animals, have taken away the habit of the animals through deforestation, farming, and mining. The growing population of humans in Madagascar is becoming an increasing problem that affects the environment of Madagascar. If the population keeps growing as it is doing now, not only will that take more habitat away from the unique animals of Madagascar, it will also probably cause more of these endemic species to become extinct.
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4. 18,482 x 100 = 1,846,200 / 600,461 = 3.07 = 3% of Madagascar's total area is protected.
5. Something that could help conserve Madagascar is to remove much of the human population who lives there. Humans have negatively impacted the island for centuries and in order to preserve what is left on the island, humans should leave it. Madagascar could become similar to the Galapagos Islands, where the only people who live there are people who are very aware of the ecological importance of the endemic species. There could be researchers and people would be allowed to visit the island, however most of the population would be moved off the island in hopes that the endemic and natives species could take back over the island.
In the unlikely event that this would ever happen, another thing that people could do to help conserve biodiversity is to educate individuals. Even people who live in the United States can be educated about endemic species and about the situation Madagascar is in. We can donate money, and we can practice good habits in our own ecosystems around where we live. We can grow native plants in our backyards.
6. The Tropical Forest Reserve in Figure 9 is a square-ish shape with a kind of triangular part on top of the square. According to Figure 9, the reserve includes grassland and tropical forest. This will allow for a variety of species, including endemic species, to live there. One side of the reserve borders the Sea, which could affect the species inside the reserve and maybe add more ecosystem variations and allow more animals to live on the reserve. The reserve is more square shaped as opposed to one long skinny corridor. This means that there is a lot of middle space on the reserve. The middle space on the reserve would be less impacted by humans, and also potentially less impacted by wind. There is not as much edge space as a long skinny area would have, although there is still plenty of edge. One side of the reserve is near a village, which would affect the reserve and disrupt the species living there because there are humans nearer. Humans are risks and could very well negativly affect the environment on that edge of the reserve. If I were an animal living on this reserve, I would want to live in the middle of the square part of the reserve. I think the design of this reserve is fairly good. I probably would have moved it a little farther from the village, but I think its good that it has a mostly square feel.