Notes on the History of Ecological Studies of Malagasy Lemurs

Jolly, Alison; Sussman, Robert W.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-34586-4_2

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Encouraged by Buettner-Janusch, the primatologist Alison Jolly began studying ring-tailed lemurs in 1 962, followed by Robert Martin, Alison Richard, and Bob Sussman, who began their research in the 1 970s. These researchers, among others, became key advocates for conservation in Madagascar, and they attended the Conférence Internationale sur la Conservation de la Nature et de ses Ressources à Madagascar in 1 970 (Andriamialisoa andLangrand 2003, Jolly andSussman 2007).…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Western governments and NGOs alike were reluctant to pledge significant funds to conservation there, and the Ratsiraka government gave research permits to only a handful of biologists during this time. Foreign scientists who did enter often came through higher education system partnerships (Andriamialisoa and Langrand 2003, Fenn 2003, Jolly and Sussman 2007.…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In turn WWF-U.S. gave $US1 20,500 for seven years to the Bezà Mahafaly reserve, which Guy Ramanantsoa of the University of Madagascar, Alison Richard, and Robert Sussman had created in 1 975 as a training ground for students at the University of Madagascar's School of Agronomy (Richard and Ratsirarson 201 3). Further, in an effort to raise public awareness about Madagascar's flora and fauna in the United States, Thomas Lovejoy of WWF-U.S. commissioned Jolly to write A World Like Our Own, which was published in 1 980 (Jolly and Sussman 2007).…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1 979 Césaire Rabenoro, the president of the Académie Malgache, hosted an international meeting on lemur biology. Gerald and Lee Durrell of Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (JWPT) (now the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), among others, attended this meeting (Jolly and Sussman 2007). In November 1 981 , following a visit by Barthélémi Vaohita to the United Kingdom, a group of foreign scientists working in Madagascar held an informal gathering in Cambridge, England, to discuss how to promote nature conservation in Madagascar.…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In doing so, it marked a transition in emphasis in Madagascar environmental politics from nature conservation, which had been the focus of the 1 970 conference, to "the environment", and it established the groundwork for a comprehensive national environmental agenda. In 1 984 Barthélémi Vaohita convinced every Malagasy minister to sign Madagascar's national conservation strategy, a bureaucratic endeavor that constituted a meaningful step toward building environmental awareness across the government (Jolly and Sussman 2007). The decree that adopted into legislation the strategy also established the Commission Nationale de Conservation pour le Développement (CNCD), assisted by a Comité Technique Permanent (CTP) that reported to the director general of planning (Repoblikan'i Madagasikara 1 984).…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A history of conservation politics in Madagascar

Corson

2017

MCD

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In this article, I argue that reconciling conservation and livelihoods in Madagascar requires an examination of the historical processes and political-economic systems through which the strong foreign influence on conservation has formed. I begin by documenting how a group of scientists and policy-makers came together in the 1 970s and 1 980s to mobilize global attention to the importance of protecting Madagascar's flora and fauna. I illustrate how their influence materialized not only through formal political negotiations and bureaucratic practice but also via informal collaborations across multiple geographic and institutional sites. Then, I examine how the critical historical conjuncture of the mid-1 980s-with its emphasis on biodiversity, sustainable development and neoliberalism-prompted a reconfiguration in power relations among public, private, and nonprofit actors. This reconfiguration provided the political-economic context for the transformation of a scientific campaign into a well-funded foreign aid agenda, encompassed in the Madagascar National Environmental Action Plan. I illustrate how, although numerous actors advocated for integrated conservation and development approaches throughout Madagascar's environmental history, the political, scientific, and financial strength behind the international conservation lobby often overpowered the push for more comprehensive or integrated development approaches. Finally, I conclude by arguing that effective and equitable conservation in Madagascar will require transforming the power relations that have both created Madagascar's environmental crisis and efforts to redress it. RÉSUMÉDans cet article, j'avance que pour réconcilier la conservation de la nature et les moyens de subsistance des gens à Madagascar, il faut commencer par un examen critique des processus historiques et des systèmes économiques politiques qui ont eu une forte influence étrangère sur la conservation dans le pays. Je commence par documenter comment un groupe de scientifiques et de responsables politiques se sont réunis dans les années 1 970 et 1 980 pour mobiliser l'attention mondiale sur l'importance de protéger la flore et la faune de Madagascar. J'étudie comment leur influence s'est matérialisée non seulement par des négociations politiques officielles et des pratiques bureaucratiques, mais aussi par des collaborations informelles dans de nombreux endroits sur le terrain et dans les institutions. Ensuite, je montre comment la conjoncture historique du milieu des années 1 980 qui était caractérisée par un accent mis sur la biodiversité, le développement durable et le néolibéralisme, a permis de reconfigurer les relations de pouvoir entre les entités publiques, privées et les organisations à but non lucratif. Cette reconfiguration a forgé le contexte politico-économique dans lequel ces acteurs dévoués ont transformé une campagne scientifique en un programme d'aide étrangère bien financé et inclus dans le Plan National d'Action pour l'Environnement de Madagascar. Je montre comment, ...

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Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Stage For Conservation Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A history of conservation politics in Madagascar

Corson

2017

MCD

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The importance of scale in comparative microbiome research: New insights from the gut and glands of captive and wild lemurs

Greene

Bornbusch

McKenney

et al. 2019

American J Primatol

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Research on animal microbiomes is increasingly aimed at determining the evolutionary and ecological factors that govern host-microbiome dynamics, which are invariably intertwined and potentially synergistic. We present three empirical studies related to this topic, each of which relies on the diversity of Malagasy lemurs (representing a total of 19 species) and the comparative approach applied across scales of analysis. In Study 1, we compare gut microbial membership across 14 species in the wild to test the relative importance of host phylogeny and feeding strategy in mediating microbiome structure.Whereas host phylogeny strongly predicted community composition, the same feeding strategies shared by distant relatives did not produce convergent microbial consortia, but rather shaped microbiomes in host lineage-specific ways, particularly in folivores. In Study 2, we compare 14 species of wild and captive folivores, frugivores, and omnivores, to highlight the importance of captive populations for advancing gut microbiome research.We show that the perturbational effect of captivity is mediated by host feeding strategy and can be mitigated, in part, by modified animal management. In Study 3, we examine various scent-gland microbiomes across three species in the wild or captivity and show them to vary by host species, sex, body site, and a proxy of social status. These rare data provide support for the bacterial fermentation hypothesis in olfactory signal production and implicate steroid hormones as mediators of microbial community structure. We conclude by discussing the role of scale in comparative microbial studies, the links between feeding strategy and host-microbiome coadaptation, the underappreciated benefits of captive populations for advancing conservation research, and the need to consider the entirety of an animal's microbiota. Ultimately, these studies will help move the field from exploratory to hypothesis-driven research. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS• Comparing gut microbiomes in diverse lemurs shows that community structure reflects host phylogeny at broad scales, but when controlling for evolutionary time, feeding strategy underlies the strength of host-microbe coadaptation at narrow scales.Am J Primatol. 2019;81:e22974.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ajp

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