What did the ecosystem historically look like?

Madagascar was originally connected to the continent of Africa, however because of the continental drift; Madagascar became an island about 165 million years ago. The few animals on board the new island were then forced to adapt to the new environmental conditions. Several animals migrated to the island on drifting pieces of wood or vegetation.

Over the past decade, the forest has lost a lot of is tree coverage, as seen in the figure on the left. Originally Madagascar's tropical rainforest covered 11.2 million hectares, today, only about 2.5 to 6.9 million hectares remain. Today, less than 10% of the original forest remains. Rain forests are disappearing primarily because of agriculture, forest fires, and logging.

There are two types of agriculture that take place on the island: subsistence and commerce agriculture. Both use the method of slash-and-burn agriculture, in which the plants are cut, burned, and the planted with crops. This type of agriculture is unsustainable.

Forest fires are unpredictable and burn through as much as one third of the island each year. This is often due to slash-and-burn agriculture. When they burn the land, the fire is often uncontrollable causing the fire to spread into a wildfire. This causes the island to lose much of its unique diversity.

Like almost all tropical rainforest ecosystems, logging provides for shifting cultivation, grazing, fuel wood gathering, economic development, cattle ranching and mining. In addition, the tropical rain forests of Madagascar contain many precious woods that can be used for timber, such as ebony and rosewood.

Despite these environmental hazards, some plants that were present historically have survived. Several native plants located in the tropical rainforest include rosy periwinkle, orchids, and palms. Other native plants located on the island are baobab trees and alluaudia.

Catharathus Roseus (Rosy Periwinkle)

The Catharathus Roseus is both native and endemic to the island of Madagascar. It provides humans with important drugs that can be used to treat Hodgkin's disease and leukemia.

Cynorkis calanthoides (Cynorkis uncinata)

Orchids make up the largest group of plants in Madagascar. Many which are endangered and under threat of human activity. There are over a thousand species of orchids found in Madagascar and almost 90% of these species are endemic to the island.

Dypsis Ambositrae

Palm trees are native to the island of Madagascar and of the 170 species found, 97% of the tress are endemic. One of the most endangered palms is dypsis ambositrae, as seen on the left.







Since these plants were native to the ecosystem, these plants probably dominated the ecosystem during earlier times. However, due to non-native and alien plants, the native plants have been downsized and most are endangered. Thus, in order to restore the ecosystem back to its original habitat, it would be best to identify the native plants and start replanting them. In addition, try to remove non-native species from competing with the native species.