MBG: Madagascar's Littoral Forests

www.mobot.org

Research Home | Search | Contact | Site Map

MO PROJECTS:
Africa
Asia/Pacific
Mesoamerica
North America
South America
Floras
General Taxonomy
Photo Essays
Training in Latin
America

MO RESEARCH:
Wm. L. Brown Center
Bryology
GIS
Graduate Studies
Imaging Lab
Library
MBG Press
Publications

MO DATABASES: W³MOST
Image Index
Rare Books
Angiosperm
Phylogeny
All Databases

INFORMATION:
The Unseen Garden
What's New?
People at MO
Visitor's Guide
Herbarium
Jobs & Fellowships
Symposium
Research Links
Site Map
Search

Botanical Inventories at Mahabo Forest

MBG staff, Reza Ludovic, pressing specimens in Mahabo Forest

Comprehensive botanical inventories are being conducted in each of the six priority sites with the goal of identifying threatened species and assessing the overall species composition. Results of inventory work will be used to evaluate patterns of species richness, endemism, and species turnover rates along a latitudinal gradient. For the Mahabo forest, work is done in collaboration with local people with the purposes of prioritizing and implementing conservation strategies at the community level.

Botanical inventories in the Mahabo forest have led to discoveries of several species of plants that appear to be either endemic to these sites or at least endemic to the littoral forest on sand. During the first year the team found a new population of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes madagascariensis (Nepenthaceae) at Mahabo. This species was previously thought to be restricted to the south of Madagascar. More rare species continue to be discovered, such as Vernoniopsis caudata (Asteraceae) and a currently undescribed species of Octolepis (Thymelaeaceae).

Schizolaena elongata from the endemic plant family Sarcolanaceae Undescribed species of Octolepis (Thymelaeaceae)

E-mail
Technical Support