Using data from thousands of species of lemurs, frogs, geckos, butterflies, ants, and plants, scientists from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, University of California, Berkeley and other organizations have completed an analytical colossus for Madagascar that will guide plans to safeguard the island's unique natural heritage. The massive study is the cover story in the most recent edition of
Science.
The study is unprecedented in terms of not only the number of species examined (some 2,315 species in six groups), but also because of the project's scale and resolution. The biodiversity, climate and habitat of the entire 226,657 square-mile island, which is nearly a third larger than the state of California, were examined. The maps generated from the data analyses have a resolution of less than a square kilometer.
"While some of the key areas of biodiversity are under protection, many are not. This study will help direct conservation plans to help protect the most species possible, with special consideration given to those animals and plants that are most endangered," said the study's lead co-author Dr. Claire Kremen, an associate conservationist with the Wildlife Conservation Society and UC Berkeley assistant professor.
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| ©Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society
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| A stump-tailed chameleon from Madagascar
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Comment: Note that, despite the forecast, spin is applied to support the human-caused/CO2 paradigm being pushed by the mainstream media.