Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve (BMSR), Madagascar

Research at Beza focuses on understanding how climate and human induced change affects lemur biology, behavior and survival. This includes documenting the interplay between primates and their predators and the effects of cyclones and droughts on health, behavior and survival.

Project Highlights

• Primate dental ecology – how teeth can provide a window into environmental change and reflect the use of the environment
• Conservation biology – affects of habitat fragmentation on population and conservation genetics of ring-tailed lemurs
• Mammalian community ecology – the interaction between different mammalian communities, including lemurs and other endangered mammals.
• Sustainable development – local education and training

Project Details

This long-term project (> 25 years) has provided critical data informing conservation, ecology, and evolution, in an area being impacted by environmental, climatic and human effects. A central component of this project is the longitudinal monitoring of an intact lemur community, the forest within which it resides, and the impacts that recent human actions have had on these endangered animals.