Using palaeoecology to address mining/conservation conflicts, Southeast Madagascar

The littoral forest, ranked as high conservation priority, occurs along the eastern coast of Madagascar as small fragments. The assumption that people have fragmented the littoral forest has been used to support proposals for near complete removal for mining. However, little is known about the long-term ecology of the littoral forest. Have the forests always been fragmented, for example, or are the fragments a consequence of past sea-level rise, erosion processes or human disturbances? This project will combine palaeoecology, geochemistry and remote sensing to identify landscape-scale changes of the littoral forests over the past few thousand years. This information will be incorporated in a conservation management plan to improve biodiversity conservation.

Further information for Malika Virah Sawmy can be found on her site

Further information for Dr. Lindsey Gillson can be found on her departmental site