Madagascar
Recent Achievements
Collections (2001-2005)
3,000 new collections were accessioned at RBG Kew, with duplicates lodged at Le Parc Botanique et Zoologique de Tsimbazaza (PBZT) and other partner herbaria. In September 2005 an agreement was signed between the Millennium Seed Bank and the Silo National des Graines Forestières (SNGF), to run for five years until September 2010 as a follow on from the initial agreement signed in 2000 for the establishment of a national seed collection and joint collections with RBG Kew. SNGF made over 900 seed collections, representing 600 species (about 15% of the dryland flora of Madagascar) and contributed over 4 million seeds to the MSB.
Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2001-2005)
RBG Kew published two major treatments: The Leguminosae of Madagascar (D.J. Du Puy et al., 2002) and the Generic Tree Flora of Madagascar (G.E. Schatz, 2001). A milestone for biodiversity research in Madagascar was the publication of The Natural History of Madagascar (Goodman, S.M. & Benstead, J. eds., University of Chicago Press 2003). RBG Kew botanists contributed to 10 papers covering Euphorbiaceae, Leguminosae, Palmae and Rubiaceae. Systematic studies continued in selected groups of Dioscoreaceae, Euphorbiaceae sensu lato, Orchidaceae, Palmae, Poaceae and Rubiaceae, and many new species were published. RBG Kew trained eight DEA (Masters) and four PhD students based in Madagascar.
Comparative Plant Biology (2001-2005)
Kew staff co-authored a study on the phylogenetics of Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae). The phylogenetic analysis of Phyllanthus and relatives (Phyllanthaceae) was co-authored by Kew core staff and a Kew-funded PhD student based in Madagascar. A phylogenetic study of Dioscorea (Dioscoreaceae) was published by Kew staff with collaborators including researchers at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. It aimed to discover the major species groups in the genus. The paper focused extensively on the yams of Madagascar, because all but five of the species form an endemic lineage in which there have been important changes in flower, seed and tuber morphology promoting diversification. The phylogeny generated was used in a sister publication on pollen evolution in Dioscorea, in which Madagascar also played an important part; many of the Malagasy species possess a unique striate ektexine morphology. Materials for both the phylogenetic and palynological studies came from collaborative fieldwork in Madagascar. Pollen morphology was also used in papers describing new species of Dioscorea from Madagascar.
Sustainable Uses of Plants (2001-2005)
In the southern littoral forest areas we are advising on a domestication programme of forest species for the house plant market. Our partner QMM hopes to raise local incomes and reduce exploitation of the few remaining patches of forest, which it is actively conserving.
The Threatened Plants Project focused on propagating and marketing threatened orchid species through PBZT to take pressure off wild populations.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2001-2005)
A significant contribution to conservation planning in Madagascar will be the forthcoming accurate and up-to-date vegetation map: Vegetation Atlas of Madagascar (Moat, J. & Andriambolantsoa, H. et al., due summer 2007). Based on satellite image data and extensive ground surveys, it is supplemented by an interactive website www.vegmad.org for downloading maps or uploading new information.
The Threatened Plants Project was a three year project, funded by an appeal through Friends of Kew, to establish an infrastructure for ex situ conservation and the re-introduction of Madagascar’s rarest plant species. The project focused on 20 critically endangered succulent, palm and orchid species. Although officially ended, donations have not stopped, allowing the team to continue the work. The collections held in the nurseries and greenhouse are being bulked-up and re-introductions of selected species are starting at Andisabe National Park and a new protected area north of Toliara. ANGAP has undertaken to monitor the success of the re-introductions.
The MSB with SNGF has concentrated on the dryland flora, ensuring the preservation of over 600 species through seed banking. It has gathered information on the distribution of over 1,000 species based on herbarium data and has discovered many new populations of some of the rarest species during field surveys.