Search

Madagascar possesses a unique avifauna characterized by high endemism rates at species and higher taxonomic levels, but little is known about the behaviour, diets and interspecific interactions of many species. We present a number of opportunistic observations of Malagasy birds collected during 2012–2015, including a foraging association between Hook-billed vanga Vanga curvirostris and White-breasted mesite Mesitornis variegatus, aggressive interaction between a fledgling Madagascar cuckoo Cuculus rochii and its Common jery Neomixis tenella host, records of carnivory in Green-capped coua Coua ruficeps olivaceiceps and frugivory in Lafresnaye’s vanga Xenopirostris xenopirostris, an unusual aggregation of Alpine swift Tachymarptis melba around a telecommunications tower, entrapment of Madagascar mannikin Lepidopygia nana in a spider’s web, and anti-predator behaviour (mobbing) of potentially predatory reptiles in Souimanga sunbird Nectarinia souimanga, Madagascar magpie robin Copsychus albospecularis, Madagascar paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone mutata, Common newtonia Newtonia brunneicauda and Crested drongo Dicrurus forficatus.

Madagascar, among the world’s poorest countries, depends heavily on small-scale fisheries for food security and income. Many of its fisheries have transitioned from subsistence- to market-oriented in recent decades, driven by the emergence of new export markets. In this chapter we consider the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (‘SSF Guidelines’) in light of experiences from two small-scale fisheries in Madagascar: for octopus (Octopus cyanea) and mud crab (Scylla serrata). We focus on articles related to value chains, post-harvest and trade. The dispersed nature of the fisheries means fishers rely on private sector collectors to access markets. Post-harvest actors hold disproportionate negotiating power, with benefits from management initiatives accruing mainly to actors high in the value chain rather than the fishers who implement them. To address these imbalances and increase the contribution of these fisheries to poverty reduction and food security, it is critical to empower fishers and improve their representation in management processes. Data deficiencies must also be tackled, to enhance transparency and provide an evidence base for decision-making.

Context: Integrated conservation decision-making frameworks that help to design or adjust practices that are cognisant of environmental change and adaptation are urgently needed. Objective: We demonstrate how a landscape vulnerability framework combining

Protected areas are usually conceived and managed as static entities, although this approach is increasingly viewed as unrealistic given climate change and ecosystem dynamics. The ways in which people use land and/or natural resources within and around protected areas can also shift and evolve temporally but this remains an under-acknowledged challenge for protected area managers. Here we investigate the factors driving a rapid rise in charcoal production within a new, multiple-use protected area in Madagascar, to inform appropriate management responses. We conducted a questionnaire survey of charcoal producers to ascertain the mix of livelihood activities they practised in and years previously. Respondents had diversified their livelihood activities over time, and cultivation and pastoralism had decreased as primary sources of revenue. Reasons for the growing reliance on charcoal production include the reduced viability of alternative livelihoods (primarily farming), as a result of changing rainfall patterns and the loss of irrigation infrastructure, as well as a growing need for cash to support themselves and their families. Our results suggest that charcoal production is not a desirable activity but a safety net when times are difficult. Conservation efforts to ameliorate underlying factors driving livelihood change, such as dam restoration, could reduce the prevalence of charcoal production, but simultaneous action to cut demand is also required. We recommend that mechanisms to detect, understand and respond to social change are integrated systematically into protected area management planning, alongside traditional biodiversity monitoring.

There are insufficient resources available to manage the world’s existing protected area portfolio effectively, so the most important sites should be prioritised in investment decision-making. Sophisticated conservation planning and assessment tools developed to identify locations for new protected areas can provide an evidence base for such prioritisations, yet decision-makers in many countries lack the institutional support and necessary capacity to use the associated software. As such, simple heuristic approaches such as species richness or number of threatened species are generally adopted to inform prioritisation decisions. However, their performance has never been tested. Using the reptile fauna of Madagascar’s dry forests as a case study, we evaluate the performance of four site prioritisation protocols used to rank the conservation value of 22 established and candidate protected areas. We compare the results to a benchmark produced by the widely-used systematic conservation planning software Zonation. The four indices scored sites on the basis of: i) species richness; ii) an index based on species’ Red List status; iii) irreplaceability (a key metric in systematic conservation planning); and, iv) a novel Conservation Value Index (CVI), which incorporates species-level information on endemism, representation in the protected area system, tolerance of habitat degradation and hunting/collection pressure. Rankings produced by the four protocols were positively correlated to the results of Zonation, particularly amongst high-scoring sites, but CVI and Irreplaceability performed better than Species Richness and the Red List Index. Given the technological capacity constraints experienced by decision-makers in the developing world, our findings suggest that heuristic metrics can represent a useful alternative to more sophisticated analyses, especially when they integrate species-specific information related to extinction risk. However, this can require access to, an

The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.

1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners andmanagers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence-based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an effective contribution to conservation practice. 3. To help overcome this problem we have created open access online teaching materials in multiple languages that are stored in Applied Ecology Resources. So far, 117 educators from 23 countries have acknowledged the importance of this and are already teaching or about to teach skills in appraising or using evidence in conservation decision-making. This includes 145 undergraduate, postgraduate or professional development courses. 4. We call for wider teaching of the tools and skills that facilitate evidence-based conservation and also suggest that providing online teaching materials in multiple languages could be beneficial for improving global understanding of other subject areas.

The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.