Lemurs: Endangered Gardeners of Madagascar’s Rainforests

Date: 

Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 6:00pm

Location: 

Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Many plant species in Madagascar’s highly diverse forests have fruits that are eaten by lemurs, a primate group native to Madagascar.  Lemurs disperse the seeds of these plants throughout the forest with their scat. This seed dispersal process plays a crucial role in the survival of the island’s plant species, the maintenance of high plant diversity, and the integrity of the forest ecosystem. Onja Razafindratsima will discuss the role and impact of lemur seed dispersal on plants in Madagascar’s rainforests on multiple levels. Onja Razafindratsima is the 2016­–2017 Sarah and Daniel Hrdy Visiting Fellow in Conservation Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

ORGANIZER(S): Harvard Natural History Muesuem
EVENT WEBSITE: http://hmnh.harvard.edu/event/lemurs-endangered-gardeners-madagascar%E2%80%99s-rainforests