Brian D. Gerber

Preliminary Project Outline

(Masters Student)

Project Title: Using camera-traps and surveys of traditional knowledge to estimate population abundance, density, and occupancy of threatened and endangered carnivores in southeastern Madagascar to best design landscape level conservation strategies.

Overall Goal: Our goal is to provide critical information on the population ecology of Malagasy carnivores and their prey to facilitate conservation and management of current protected areas and the implementation of the Durban Vision.

Why Madagascar and Why Carnivores?

1. Madagascar has been recognized as one of the world’s top biodiversity conservation priorities (Myers et al. 2000).

2. Carnivores have been shown to exert significant influence on ecosystem structure and function, making them a crucial aspect of conservation (Noss et al. 1996).

3. Most Malagasy carnivores and many of their lemur prey are listed as threatened or endangered (IUCN 2006).

4. Threats to Malagasy carnivore populations continue to be exacerbated by ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation.

5. As part of the ambitious Durban Vision, Madagascar’s protected areas are tripling in size, but lack of knowledge inhibits the consideration of habitat requirements and movement dynamics of top predators in the planning process (World Bank 2005).

6. No ecological study has quantitatively examined population parameters and diet of Malagasy carnivores in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar.

Objectives:

1. Estimate population parameters (abundance, density, occupancy) of Malagasy carnivores of the eastern rainforests.

2. Quantify the diet of carnivores through scat analyses.

3. Evaluate how density or occupancy and diet are influenced by time (wet vs. dry season) and space (habitat features).

4. Quantify local knowledge about carnivore use patterns outside forest areas.

5. Explore the potential impacts of habitat fragmentation on Malagasy carnivores as a lead to a long-term landscape ecology/metapopulation carnivore study.

Hypotheses:

1. Malagasy carnivore population state variables and diet do not vary between continuous primary forest and fragmented secondary forest habitats.

2. Malagasy carnivore population state variables and diet do not differ between dry and rainforest habitats (using comparisons with previous dry forest studies by L. Dollar and C. Hawkins).

3. Malagasy carnivores do not use non-forested areas between core and fragmented forest habitats.

4. Carnivore population data collected systematically using camera-traps and local knowledge assessment is congruent.

Pilot Study Data Analyses:

1. Verified the presence of multiple individuals of Cryptoprocta ferox, Fossa fossana, Galidia elegans, and Galidictis fasciata.

2. Scat collection efforts have demonstrated the possibility of collecting enough scats to make inferences regarding C. ferox’s diet.

3. Information from this pilot study will allow us to most efficiently design our proposed long-term study (e.g. the remote camera spacing arrangement).

How will Success be Measured?

1. Completion of ten months of data collection

2. The application of proper data analyses techniques to discern significant findings

3. A completed thesis

4. The publication of a minimum of one journal article

5. The presentation of findings to professional societies, peers, interest groups, stakeholders, and all levels of educational institutions in both the United States and Madagascar.

Galidictis fasciata	Galidia elegans
Fossa fossana	Cryptoprocta ferox

Table 3. Malagasy carnivores found during the summer 2007 Pilot Study in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.

IUCN. 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. in IUCN.

Noss, R. F., H. B. Quigley, M. G. Hornocker, T. Merrill, and P. C. Paquet. 1996. Conservation biology and carnivore conservation in the Rocky Mountains. Conservation Biology 10:949-963.

Myers, N., R. A. Mittermeier, C. G. Mittermeier, G. A. B. da Fonseca, and J. Kent. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853-858.

World Bank. 2005. Third Environment Program Support Project: The World Bank. Forest Resources in Madagascar. The World Bank.