The kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn, Malvaceae) as a food source for native vertebrate species during times of resource scarcity and its potential for reforestation in Madagascar

Abstract

Reforestation in Madagascar often relies on a few tree species with known properties. Species selection may consider aspects like human use, growth characteristics and animal use. Here, we investigated the use of the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) as a food source for vertebrates during the dry season in North West Madagascar. We observed 21 native vertebrate species (five lemurs, five bats and 11 birds) feed on or within C. pentandra during this period of low food availability, 48% of which are known seed dispersers. As a fast-growing species, C. pentandra may therefore be suitable for inclusion in reforestation and forest restoration efforts to facilitate seed dispersal, natural forest regeneration and animal movement between adjacent forest fragments.

Trends in Austral Ecology publications 2021 and 2022

“…The key topics relative to the location in each country are represented in Figure 2. Also of interest are the publications coming from under‐represented Southern Hemisphere countries including Madagascar (Hending et al, 2021; Santos & Ribeiro, 2022), Fiji (Forey et al, 2021; Harlow et al, 2022; Wright et al, 2021), Peru (Doan et al, 2021) and Uruguay (Boltovskoy et al, 2021).…”

Participatory forest restoration for sustainable livelihood: A case study from Himalaya

“…The present study unleashes potential of traditional knowledge as the starting point for screening nontimber species neglected in timber-centric organized forestry (Ashton et al, 2014;Hending et al, 2021). This knowledge may enormously vary in space and time as a result of geographical, linguistic and cultural barriers in exchange of knowledge among local communities.…”

An Austral Ecology 5 year retrospective on Natural History Notes: A compelling case for curiosity

“…Or the adoption of prey‐switching behaviours when in drought conditions, with a juvenile red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ) in poor body condition attempting to predate a sand goanna ( Varanus gouldii ) (Brown et al., 2020) or freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii invading in north Patagonian lakes displaying phenotypic plasticity in response to differing diet quality (Caputo et al., 2021). Positive impacts are also now known, the introduced kapok tree ( Ceiba pentandra ) acting as a food source for 21 native vertebrate species during the dry season with periods of low food availability (Hending et al., 2021). Lastly, zoonotic disease transmission and their dynamics are entwined with the ecology and evolution biology of the host species, with changes in host abundance or environmental changes (such as the introduced species within an ecosystem) affecting incidence or increasing disease transmission (Karesh et al., 2012).…”