Madagascan highlands: originally woodland and forest containing endemic grasses, not grazing-adapted grassland.

ABSTRACT: Long considered a consequence of anthropogenic agropastoralism, the origin of Madagascar's central highland grassland is hotly disputed. Arguments that ancient endemic grasses formed grassland maintained by extinct grazers and fire have been persuasive. Consequent calls to repeal fire-suppression legislation, burn protected areas, and accept pastoralism as the 'salvation' of endemic grasses mount, even as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declares 98% of lemurs face extinction through fire-driven deforestation. By analysing grass data from contemporary studies, and assessing endemic vertebrate habitat and feeding guilds, we find that although the grassland potentially dates from the Miocene, it is inhospitable to endemic vertebrates and lacks obligate grazers. Endem

SUBMITTER: Joseph GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7661296 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature