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Young World
Hot spots
Photo: AP
Madagascar, an evolutionary laboratory : Flying foxes, a protected species.
Scientists have developed a technique that pinpoints key biodiversity hotspots, which they say will lead to more effective conservation strategies. Researchers used the system to identify vital habitats in Madagascar, which is home to a vast array of unique species. Writing in Science, they say their methodology identifies exact areas that support a wide variety of organisms. More than 80 per cent of the known species on the island nation are not found a
nywhere else in the world. “Madagascar is an amazing place because of its evolutionary history,” explained co-author Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist from the University of California, Berkeley, U.S. She said that as a result of it breaking away from the African continent 160-80 million years ago, the flora and fauna had been left in relative isolation from the rest of the world. “It’s really been like an evolutionary laboratory because almost everything you find there is unique. Because it is the fourth largest island in the world, it’s got a lot of major ecosystems within it — it has desert areas, rainforests, high mountains, lowlands and it also has incredible marine resources as well.”
COMPLIED BY ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
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