PALAEOINVA · Palaeoecological Exploration of Human-Linked Biological Invasions on Madagascar
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-07-01 → 2025-06-30
- EU contribution
- €173,847
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Palaeoecological Exploration of Human-Linked Biological Invasions on Madagascar
Loss of biodiversity – a term encompassing the variety and variability of life on earth – is one of the most urgent threats to humans and the broader biosphere. The fossil record documents a long history of where animals lived, what they ate, and when they went extinct, and understanding what influenced this record gives essential context for guiding modern conservation efforts. Biodiverse islands such as Madagascar, which are being deforested and invaded by introduced animals, are foci of biodiversity conservation efforts. People arrived on Madagascar at least 1,500 years ago and brought with them exotic predators such as dogs and rats. Though these animals are known today to threaten native animals on Madagascar by eating them, competing over resources, and spreading disease, the antiquity, past consequences, and legacy of these threats are poorly known. This project uses novel chemical analyses of ancient animal bones to learn more about when exotic predators first arrived on Madagascar, how the diet of these predators compared with that of their native counterparts, and any adjustments that these animals likely made in response to past loss of forest and climate drying. We predicted that the history of interaction between exotic animals (specifically dogs, rats, and mice) and native animals (fosa, mouse lemurs, and rodents) extends for at least one millennium. We also expected exotic predators to have eaten a relatively broad range of foods and to have adjusted to past forest loss by increasingly eating in grasslands. Meanwhile, we expected native animals to adjust relatively well to past and ongoing climate drying by eating foods in dry areas. By testing these ideas, we will give novel insight on how vulnerable native animals are to particular stressors. This information can then contribute directly to biodiversity conservation planning, which is otherwise solely informed by direct observations of living animals.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Loss of biodiversity is one of the most urgent ecosystem threats, and this is particularly clear on tropical islands such as Madagascar. Effective conservation efforts should be informed by assessments of synergistic threats from deforestation, biological invasions, and climate change, which operate on multiple timescales. This proposal uses multidisciplinary biochemical analysis of bones from archaeological and paleoecological deposits on Madagascar to identify endemic predators (fosa) and small mammals (mouse lemurs and rodents) that may be vulnerable to deforestation and negative interactions with exotic counterparts (dogs, rats, and mice). Specifically, we will apply bulk stable isotope analysis to exotic and endemic animal bone collagen from the past ~3,000 years to characterize dietary niches and evaluate the potential for different cases of predation and competition. To obtain a deeper understanding of resource use than is possible with prevailing bulk isotope methods, this project will also include the stable isotope analysis of individual amino acids present in bone collagen. Radiocarbon data from the same bones will substantially contribute to our knowledge of past animal translocations in the western Indian Ocean region. We will also start to identify taxon-specific responses to past changes in resource availability by comparing stable isotope datasets from directly 14C-dated bones with regional records of past climate and vegetation change. These project components will pin-point the degree to which competition has exacerbated (or not) the vulnerability of endemic species to human land management and climate change. The research is consistent with both the current research foci of the host institution and the career interests of the applicant, and the results will answer questions important to the historical sciences, modern biodiversity conservation, and rural communities around the study sites.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENCoordinatorGermany
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101103013
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e509d36247&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union