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Population Dynamics of Nocturnal Lemurs in Littoral Forest Fragments: The Importance of Long-Term Monitoring

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Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation pose a significant threat to many primate species worldwide, yet community-level responses are complex and nuanced. Despite repeated calls from primatologists and the wider conservation community to increase monitoring initiatives that assess long-term population dynamics, such studies remain rare. Here we summarize results from a longitudinal study set in the littoral forests of southeast Madagascar. Littoral forests are a useful model for monitoring lemur population dynamics, as they are relatively well studied and their highly fragmented nature enables the effect of forest size and anthropogenic impacts to be examined. This study focuses on three Endangered nocturnal lemur species—Avahi meridionalis, Cheirogaleus thomasi, and Microcebus tanosi—across three forest fragments of different size and with different usage histories. Between 2011 and 2018, we walked 285 km of line transect and recorded 1968 lemur observations. Based on distance sampling analysis our results indicate that nocturnal lemurs respond to forest patch size and to levels of forest degradation in species-specific ways. The largest species, A. meridionalis, declined in density and encounter rate over time across the three study forests. C. thomasi populations appeared stable in all three fragments, with densities increasing in the most degraded forest. M. tanosi encounter rates were extremely low across all study fragments but were lowest in the most heavily degraded forest fragment. Our results emphasize the importance of localized pressures and species-specific responses on population dynamics. Monitoring population trends can provide an early warning signal of species loss and species-specific responses can inform crucial intervention strategies.

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Acknowledgments

Foremost, we are greatly indebted to the Sainte Luce community for its kindness and hospitality in providing a welcoming, stable, and convivial environment for our research to take place. We are especially grateful for the commitment and expertise of the local guides Solo, Babaly, Raziva and Altera, on whom this project has relied so heavily. We would also like to extend our gratitude to all of those who contributed to the field work over the long duration of this project, including past SEED Madagascar (formerly Azafady) staff and volunteers. Thanks also to both the University of Antananarivo and the Ministry of Environment, Ecology and Forests (MEEF), who have helped facilitate this research and to the two anonymous reviewers whose insights helped to improve this work. Finally, our respect goes to all of those working hard to conserve the precious wildlife and ecosystems of Madagascar. Misoatra betsaka.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SEED Madagascar, London, UK

    Sam Hyde Roberts, Retsiraiky J. Rossizela, Tsimijaly H. Longosoa, Kathryn Strang & Lucia Chmurova

  2. Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

    Sam Hyde Roberts, Vincent Nijman & Giuseppe Donati

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  1. Sam Hyde Roberts
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Contributions

SHR developed the project, oversaw data collection from 2014, conducted the analysis, and wrote the manuscript. RJR and THL contributed significantly to the long-term data collection and provided crucial insights during manuscript preparation. Both KS and LC coordinated periods of fieldwork and provided editorial advice. GD lent guidance on analytical techniques and provided advice throughout the production of the manuscript, along with VN.

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Correspondence to Sam Hyde Roberts.

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Handling Editor: Joanna M. Setchell.

The original online version of this article was revised: Modifications have been made in Figure 2 and Table 3. Full information regarding the corrections made can be found in the erratum/correction for this article.

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Hyde Roberts, S., Rossizela, R.J., Longosoa, T.H. et al. Population Dynamics of Nocturnal Lemurs in Littoral Forest Fragments: The Importance of Long-Term Monitoring. Int J Primatol 42, 833–858 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00243-1

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