Forest restoration in Masoala National Park, Madagascar: The contribution of the red- ruffed lemur ( Varecia rubra ) and the livelihoods of subsistence farmers at Ambatoladama A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Barbara Therese Martinez IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Clarence Lehman May 2010 © Barbara Therese Martinez, 2010 Acknowledgements When one spends many years pursuing a PhD, there are more people to thank than one can remember. I will try to do everyone justice. I do not recall when I first became obsessed with the lemurs of Madagascar, but my college roommates from Madison insist it was while I was living with them, so I need to thank Amy Evers, Rachael Reiman, and Rebecca D.G. Wassell for their friendship and early support and encouragement. I next must thank Dr. Alex Dehgan for giving me the the opportunity to get to Madagascar to study the sifakas, Propithecus diadema edwardsi , in the forest fragments near Ranomafana National Park. It was the best six months of my life up to that point, and Alex inspired me to pursue a PhD studying some aspect of lemurs and conservation. I am also glad he has been a supportive committee member this entire time. Thank you to Dr. Clarence Lehman for taking me on as his first student even though it seemed to make little academic sense. He has been a wonderful advisor; I would not have finished without his encouragement, enthusiasm, and chocolate supplements. Dr. Tamara Giles-Vernick has also been a very supportive committee member with amazing ideas, and I have always admired her grasp of the English language. Thank you also to Dr. Beth Kaplin for agreeing to be an external committee member. Her insights have helped me a great deal. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Karen Oberhauser for taking over at the last minute and joining my committee. I am so grateful! Other faculty at UMN and elsewhere have provided help and support, including Jim Johnson, Natalie Vasey, Shawn Lehman, Dick Skaggs, and Anne Pusey. My wonderful parents, Mark and Yvonne Kantor, have put up with my delayed adulthood by supporting me both financially and lovingly as parents should. I was so happy and had the best time when my mom (who had never left North America) came to visit me in Madagascar. In fact, my entire family has been extrememely understanding and supportive. I especially would like to acknowledge my grandparents, Kathleen and Fred TenNapel; my siblings, Nina Martinez, Nick Martinez, Aaron Martinez (and Salena, Thomas, and Georgie), and Kathleen Kantor; and the extended i Martinez family, especially Connie and Ray Gallego and the late and generous Uncle Harold. I could not have completed my field work without the support and assistance of a number of Malagasy farmers, city-folk, awesome Peace Corps volunteers, and other ex-pats who happened to work in Maroantsetra. I was extremely lucky to be paired with Mrs. Onja Razafindratsima from the University of Antananarivo to assist me with my project; she started out as “my student” and soon became “my friend.” I also would like to thank Madame Emilienne for giving me the opportunity to work with Onja. I also must thank Fanja for her hospitality and kindness—I encourage everyone to stay at La Maison du Pyla in Antananarivo! My field staff and their families were great and I miss them dearly: Georges Betandra, Jean Charles, Richelen, Reniste, Zaritah, Dedesy, BeNarivo, Joseph, Jocelyn, Jean Periste, Jean Ferlin, Fausten (rest in peace), Jao Aridy, Jao Masonjary, Jaquelin, LaBierra, Tsarasoa, and Avalise. Thank you also to Claire Catania, Jenny Schmitt, and Jeff Kloppenburg for their field assistance and company. Maroantsetra and Masoala National Park will always be my home away from home, and I have the following people to thank for that: Paul Clement Harimalala, Ramiandry, Lova, Aysha of Au bon Gout, Maya Moore, Stephen Garrett, Leticia Alvarez, Chris Golden, Rachel Kramer, Eric Patel, Amanda Doster, Rakoto, the villagers of Fampotobe, Antanananambo, Ambatoladama, and Ankovana, the porter association of Mahalevona, and finally Boks the wonder dog. Also, my chickens, ducks and Betadine the pig for providing us with eggs and meat while in the field. WCS Madagascar and ANGAP in Maroantsetra were extremely helpful with logistics while I was in Tana and in Maroantsetra. I would like to especially acknowledge Nicolas Blondel, Eddy, Claujus, Sylviane, Lucienne, Aristide, Helen Crowley, Herve, Ceasar, Tiana, and Lanto. Thank you also to James MacKinnon for ideas early-on in the process; Patrice and Chris Birkenshaw of MBG for his help with botanics; Jonah Ratsimbazafy; Ed Louis and his team of lemur darters; Natalie Vasey; Tiana my Malagasy tutor and translator; and the US Embassy Public Affairs staff. This research would not have been possible without the generous financial support of Conservation International’s Margot Marsh Biodiverstiy Foundation, Conservation International’s Primate Action Fund, United States Fulbright Fellowship, ii University of Minnesota Graduate School, University of Minnesota Graduate Program in Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (formerly the MacArthur Program), Ulysses S. Seal Grant from the Minnesota Zoo, and finally my family, including the extended Martinez family, Mark and Yvonne Kantor, Fred and Kathleen TenNapel. Thanks to Peter Quach and Penny Jacobson for helping with data entry and being very dependable. Sue Wenker and Launa Shun in the EEB office were also extermemly helpful during this process. Mark Holland of the Statistics Clinic helped a lot, thank you! A number of people also get a shout-out in this section for simply being amazing colleagues, supportive friends, providers of fun distractions, or purveyors of kind words (in no particular order): Lynne Baker; Olivia LeDee; Lesley Kadish; David Pitman; Kelly Pennington, Mary Williams and Derric Pennington of D&D; Noelle Beckman; Meadow Kouffeld; Lorelle Berkeley; Jon Slaght; Karen K. Slaght, Anna Mason, Julie Pearson and Megan Simmons for delicious meals; Hadas Kushnir; Jennifer Schmitt; Michelle Wieland; Dave Huff; Lauren Brudney; Laura P. Mao; and William Eddy. iii Abstract Madagascar is among the most diverse places on earth, with 100% of the primates (lemurs), 99% of the amphibians, 95% of the reptiles, and almost 90% of the plants found nowhere else in the world. It is also rich in exploitable resources. Precious hardwoods like rosewood grow in the eastern rain forest. Deposits of sapphires, quartz, nickel, graphite, and gold are available. Yet it is one of the poorest countries, ranked in the lower 1/5 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP 2009). Much of the original forest cover has been converted to agriculture, pasture, or degraded forest as a result of past non-renewable reliance on its natural resources. The government of Madagascar, with substantial support and influence from the international community, has developed a network of areas throughout the country protecting the diverse ecosystems. This is the backdrop for the present study. My dissertation research focuses on seed dispersal by the largest diurnal lemur in Masoala National Park (MNP), the red-ruffed lemur ( Varecia rubra ), and the attitudes of the local farmers in an effort to assess the sustainability of a forest restoration project in the Ambatoladama forest corridor in MNP. Can the park rely on lemurs to restore natural forest habitat? Do the farmers in the region understand and respect park regulations well-enough to ensure long-term compliance and acceptance of forest protection and restoration? In the first chapter, I report on the diet and activity budget of V. rubra during two field seasons in 2006 and 2007. The behavior of seed dispersers greatly affects the seed shadow of forest species; for example, the distance traveled in a day, the habitats lemurs travel through, the types of food eaten, and the amount of time resting can influence the deposition sites of passed seeds. The second chapter describes how V. rubra contribute to forest restoration through their seed dispersal capabilities. I analyzed the seed dispersal quality and quantity, including the spatial distribution, diversity, and germination success of passed seeds within the Ambatoladama corridor. Finally, the third chapter elaborates on the attitudes towards the park held by subsistence farmers living in the Ambatoladama region at the time of the study. I was interested in how people can help or hinder the future sustainability of MNP. However, iv between the completion of my field work and the present, Madagascar has undergone dramatic changes in its government and thus environmental legislation. The military- backed coup in 2009 led to logging in the northeast and legalized the shipment of unprocessed rosewood and palissandre logs. This has led to massive increases in rosewood and palissandre cutting within the boundaries of MNP. I therefore analyzed the interview data from 2007 in light of the current situation in MNP. v Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................. xii List of Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Malagasy ( mg ) Terms ....................................... xv Chapter 1: The effects of reduced