There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
The study of southern dry forest lemurs has been largely restricted to small reserves;
yet, the majority of the region's lemur populations reside outside protected areas.
Lemur catta and Propithecus verreauxi occupy the same forests but have different dietary
preferences. This study assessed L. catta and P. verreauxi population densities across
a 3-km dry forest gradient (1,539 ha) in southern Madagascar. The study was designed
to allow lemur densities to be related to particular forest types. A particular aim
of this study was to collect lemur data in both protected and unprotected areas. Density
estimates were calculated using point transect distance sampling in a study area that
contained the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve and the adjacent disturbed forests. The
highest densities recorded for each species were in the protected area where the two
species were most segregated in their distribution, with L. catta density highest
in gallery forest type and P. verreauxi density highest in dry deciduous. Densities
of both species varied widely outside the protected area, but P. verreauxi density
was more uniform than was L. catta. Results of this study indicate that patterns of
lemur density in protected areas are not representative of patterns in disturbed forests;
this also suggests that we cannot fully understand the ecological constraints facing
primate species by studying them only in protected areas. This research highlights
the value of pairing the study of landscape-level patterns of species distribution
with both local ground-level ecological interpretations and broad-scale satellite
data; information from only one level may give an incomplete view of the community.