Scientists say Madagascar faces millions of years of extinctions due to human activity
The ramifications of human activity on the island of Madagascar will affect the island far longer than previously realized, scientists say.
It could take millions of years for the biodiversity on the island to recover from extinctions spurred by human activity, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
The island is home to a plethora of unique animal species, including the Madagascar sucker-footed bat, an ancient family of bats that is found only on Madagascar; the lowland streaked tenrec, from a diverse group of mammals found only on Madagascar; the world’s smallest chameleon; the fossa; and the ring-tailed lemur.
At least 17 species of lemurs have already gone extinct on the island, and several other species are threatened with extinction due to human influences such as deforestation, hunting and climate change, according to the study.
Researchers from the U.S., Europe and Madagascar sought to quantify the extent to which humans have disrupted the fauna of Madagascar and forecast future outcomes, assembling a comprehensive dataset of 249 living and recently extinct mammals, including species that disappeared shortly after humans first arrived on the island, such as giant lemurs and dwarf hippos.
The scientists then combined that data with evolutionary history of species and statistical models of their geographical distribution over time.
mThe impacts were much greater than scientists expected, Luis Valente, author and researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told ABC News.
The researchers found that it could take 3 million years for Madagascar to recover the species that have been lost since human arrival if current threats are not mitigated, the study states.
