Madagascar spiny forests
|Madagascar spiny forests|
|Biome||Deserts and xeric shrublands|
|Borders||Madagascar succulent woodlands, Madagascar lowland forests|
|Area||43,400 km2 (16,800 sq mi)|
|Elevation||55–200 metres (180–656 ft)|
|Geology||Limestone and red sand|
|Climate type||Hot desert climate (BWh)|
The Madagascar spiny forests (also known as the Madagascar spiny thickets) is an ecoregion in the southwest of Madagascar. The vegetation type is found on poor substrates with low, erratic winter rainfall. The ecoregion contains an outstanding proportion of endemic plant species and is part of the Global 200.
Around 95% of the original flora in the spiny forests is endemic, which makes it the most unique ecoregion in Madagascar. Many constituent plants show extreme adaptations to drought. Spiny plants of the endemic subfamily Didiereoideae form a conspicuous component, especially towards the east. They are woody but distantly related to the cacti. The remaining component of the forests is dominated by members of the plant families Burseraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Anacardiaceae and Fabaceae, all of which have representatives elsewhere.
Notable inhabitants of the spiny thickets include the spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides) and the radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata), the gecko Ebenavia maintimainty, several lemurs including Verreaux's sifaka, Grandidier's mongoose, and eight endemic birds.
Existing reserves protect a maximum of 3% of remaining vegetation, including Tsimanampetsotsa National Park, Berenty Reserve and Beza Mahafaly Reserve. Andohahela National Park offers limited protection through its 'parcel 3' section. Elsewhere the spiny forest habitat is under pressure from human exploitation. The main impacting activities are burning for conversion to grazing land, harvesting for charcoal and firewood, and logging for construction. The Arboretum d'Antsokay is a botanical garden near Toliara dedicated to preserving the flora of the spiny forest.
The bottle tree, Moringa drouhardii, found mainly in the spiny forests
A fat-tailed dwarf lemur of the spiny forests and succulent woodlands
Verreaux's sifaka, a lemur species occurring, in part, in the spiny forests
A ring-tailed lemur in Berenty Reserve, set in the spiny forests ecoregion
Grandidier's mongoose, a range-restricted carnivore of the spiny forests
The subdesert mesite, endemic to the spiny forests
- Crowley, H. (2004). "113 – Madagascar Spiny Thickets". In Burgess, N.; D'Amico Hales, J.; Underwood, E.; et al. (eds.). Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment (PDF). World Wildlife Fund Ecoregion Assessments (2nd ed.). Washington D.C.: Island Press. pp. 415–417. ISBN 978-1559633642. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-01.
- Botanic Gardens Conservation International - Arboretum d'Antsokay
- For extent, fragmentation and intact sections, see: A refined classification of the primary vegetation of Madagascar based on the underlying geology, Du Puy and Moat, 1996.
- For dominant plant families, see: Structure and floristic composition of the vegetation in the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale d’Andohahela, Madagascar, Rakotomalaza and Messmer, 1999.
- "Madagascar spiny thickets". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- Madagascar spiny thickets (Encyclopedia of the Earth)