Biogeography and Ecology in Madagascar

768 Pages·1972·22.854 MB·English

by  R. Battistini (auth.), R. Battistini, G. Richard-Vindard (eds.)

MONOGRAPHIAE BIOLOGICAE
Editor
J. ILLIES, SCHLITZ
VOLUME 21
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. 1972
BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY
IN MADAGASCAR
Edited by
R. BATTISTINI & G. RICHARD-VINDARD
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. 1972
ISBN 978-94-015-7161-6 ISBN 978-94-015-7159-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-7159-3
Copyright 1972 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Dr. W. Junk B.V., Publishers, The Hauge 1972
Reprint of the original edition 1972
Cover design E. Velthuijs, The Hague
Zuid-Nederlandsche Drukkerij N.V., 's-Hertogenbosch
AII English articles translated from French into EngIish by
Language Consultants (Benelux) Ltd., London
CONTENTS
Chapters' contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XII
Madagascar relief and main types of landscape 1
The geology of Madagascar 27
The climatology of Madagascar. . 87
Flora and vegetation of Madagascar -145
The forest of Madagascar . . . . . 191
Les sols de Madagascar . . . . . . 201
Accelerated erosion and soil degradation 227
Rivers and streams on Madagascar . . 261
Man and the environment in Madagascar 311
The Malagasy subfossils . . . . . . . . 339
The coral reefs of Madagascar . . . . . 367
Some ecological and biogeographical problems of the entomofauna
of Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Les arachnides de Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Le peuplement de Mollusques terrestres de Madagascar 459
Fishes of the continental waters of Madagascar . . . 477
Les reptiles de Madagascar et des iles voisines 501
The evolution and affinities of the birds of Madagascar 615
Insectivores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
The rodents ofMadagascar: The seven genera ofMa1agasy rodents 661
The carnivora of Madagascar ........... 667
Order of primates; Sub-order of lemurs . . . . . . . 683
Human diseases and their relationship to the environment 703
The problems of nature conservation in Madagascar 727
In conclusion 741
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
v
CHAPTERS' CONTENTS
R. BA TTI S TI NI: Madagascar reliefa nd lDain types oflandscape
Relief: the rocks of the Precambrian shelf 5
Relief: sedimentary layers . . . . 7
The problem of the erosion surface ll
Volcanic land forms. . . . . . . 13
The littoral relief . . . . . . . . 16
Pliocene-Quaternary variations in the climate . 20
Panorama of the main types of natural scenery 22
P. BRENON: The geology of Madagascar
Historical . . . . . . . . 27
General features 29
The Precambrian basement. 34
The Androyan system 38
The Graphite system 41
The Vohibory system 46
Terminal Precambrian 51
Structure of the Precambrian basement 54
Mineral resources of the basement complex 57
Sedimentary zone 57
Precambrian basement 58
J
U pp er urassic 65
Cretaceous. . . . 66
Tertiary .... 68
Recent formations 70
Volcanic activity of Madagascar. 74
Recent crustal movements . . . 80
G. DONQUE: The clilDatology ofMadagascar 87
The climatic mechanisms 87
Position . . . . . . . . . 87
The maritime environment . 94
Altitude and relief . . . . 95
Atmospheric Conditions . . 99
The subtropical highs and the south-east trade wind 99
The southerly perturbation current . . 103
Intertropical Convergence and Monsoon . . . . . 104
VI
Secondary centres of action 105
Tropica1 cyc10nes . . . . . 106
Regional c1imato10gica1 outline 114
The Eastern Regions 114
The Plateau . . . . . . . 122
The West . . . . . . . . 130
The South and South-West 135
The regions ofthe extreme North and North-West 139
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
J. KOECHLIN: Flora and vegetation ofMadagascar 145
Introduction . . . . . . . 145
The ecological environment 146
Eastern Malagasy region 151
The Western Malagasy region 151
Flora and vegetation 155
The facts 156
The explanations . . 157
The vegetation . . . 161
The woody formations . 162
The grass formations. 180
Conc1usions 189
References . . . . . 190
B. CHAUVET: The forest ofMadagascar 191
Eastern type forests . 191
Western type forests . 195
Southern type forests 197
The High Plateaux 197
Conc1usion . 198
References . . . . 199
P. ROEDERER: Les sols de Madagascar 201
Generalites ........ 201
Les sols de Madagascar . . . . . . . . 201
Repartition des sols par region . . . . . 223
Valeur agronomique des sols de Madagascar 224
Conc1usion. . 225
Bibliographie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
P. LE BOURDIEc: Accelerated erosion and soll degradation 227
Forms of erosion . 228
The laminar forms 228
VII
The linear forms . 231
Mass movements . 234
Elementary lavaka 238
Compound lavaka 239
The causes of accelerated erosion 241
Direct action. . . . . . . . . 243
Indirect action . . . . . . . . 244
Consequences of accelerated erosion 246
The fight against erosion . 251
Conclusion . 257
Bibliography . . . . . . 257
M. ALDEGRERI: Rivers and strealns on Madagascar 261
Hydrography ......... 261
The slopes of the Ambre mountain 263
The Tsaratanana slopes 263
The Eastern slopes 265
The Western slopes . 270
The Southern slopes . 285
Hydrology. . . . . 288
The northern or Ambre mountain regime. 290
North-eastern regime . . . 291
Tsaratanana regime. . . . . . 291
Regime of the eastern slopes . . 293
The regime of the high Plateaux 294
The regime of the North-west coast 300
The South central regime 300
The West coast regime 303
The South Sahelian regime 303
The mixed regimes 305
Bibliography . . . . . . . 310
R. BATTISTINI & P. VERIN: Man and the environlnent in
Madagascar 311
Recent transformation of the environment in Madagascar: Flora,
fauna and erosion system ..... 311
The settlement of the island . . . . 317
The present population of the island . 330
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . 336
J. MARE: The Malagasy subfossils 339
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . 339
The fields containing subfossils . . 339
The main subfossils of Madagascar 341
VUl
Origin of the subfossil fauna 352
Extinction of the subfossils 359
Conclusion . 362
Resume . . 362
Bibliography 364
M. PICHON: The coral reefs of Madagascar 367
Abstract. . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Coral reefs and Scleractinian corals . . . . . . 367
Zonation in reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Distribution of coral reefs along the coast of Madagascar 386
The reefs of the N orth-West coast of Madagascar 386
The reefs of the Mid-West coast of Madagascar 395
The reefs on the South-West coast of Madagascar 396
The reefs of the East coast of Madagascar 406
Conclusions 407
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
R. PAULIAN: SODle ecological and biogeographical
probleDls of the entoDlofauna of Madagascar 411
Pre-Tertiary elements 416
Recent elements 420
Conclusions 425
References . . . 426
R. LEGEND RE : Les arachnides de Madagascar 427
Scorpiones . 427
Uropygi . . 434
Amblypygi . 435
Palpigradi . 435
Araneae . . 435
Pseudo-Scorpions 446
Opilions. . . 447
Acari . . . . 448
Bibliographie . 450
E. FISCHER-PIETTE et MME F. BLANc: Le peupleDlent de
MoUusques terrestres de Madagascar 459
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
a
Etude, pour chaque genre, de sa distribution l'interieur de l'ile et
du degre d'endemisme que presentent ses especes 462
Groupement de ces resultats 464
Remarque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
IX
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Rapports entre les mollusques et la vegetation ........ 469
OriginaliU et affinites de la faune malacologique terrestre de
Madagascar . . . . . . . . 470
Affinites de chacun des genres 471
Recapitulation 472
Bibliographie 476
A. KIENER & G. RICHARD-VINDARD: Fishes of the
continental waters of Madagascar 477
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
General description of the ecological conditions found in Fresh and
Brackish waters in the Grande ile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Definition of the waters studied, extent of the continental waters. . 477
Species found in fresh waters and brackish waters. Principal ecologic-
al and biological factors conditioning the penetration of the inland
waters by species with marine affinities. . . . . . 480
General characteristics of the Ichthyological fauna . 482
General ecological conditions . . . . . . . . . . 485
Ichthyological fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Description of the principal families of economic importance 488
Secondary families and general summary of species . . . . . 490
Peculiarities and biogeography of some species, scientific problems
encountered with certain of these . . . . . 491
Fisheries and Fish culture, planning problems. . . . . . . . . 495
CH. P. BLANc: Les reptiles de Madagascar et des iles voisines 501
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . , . 501
Repertoire systematique . . . . . . . . . 504
Observations sur la composition de la faune 527
Origine ou affinites de la faune . . 547
Le peuplement de l'aire Malgache 564
Eco1ogie. . 582
Conclusion . 594
Resurne . . 596
Summary . 596
Bibliographie. 596
J. DORsT: The Evolution and affinities of the birds of
Madagascar 615
Poverty of Malagasy avifauna . . . . . . 615
Unique nature of the Malagasy avifauna 618
Oriental affinities of the Malagasy avifauna 620
African affinities of the Malagasy avifauna 620
x
The colonization of Madagascar by birds 622
Evolution of Malagasy avian communities 624
References . . . . . . . . . . . 627
H. HEIM DE BALSAC : Insectivores 629
Soricidae . . . . . . . . 629
Tenrecidae ...... 631
Historique & Repartition. 631
Evolution et Speciation - Particularites biologiques 634
La speciation chez les Tenrecidae . . . . . . . . 647
Ecologie et particularites biologiques des Oryzoryctinae 658
F. PETTER: The rodents of Madagascar: The seven
genera of Malagasy rodents 661
Hypogeomys . 663
Macrotarsomys 663
N esomys. . . 664
Eliurus 664
Gymnuromys 665
Brachytarsomys . 665
Brachyuromys . 665
R. ALBIGNAC: The carnivora of Madagascar 667
The Fossa genet. 668
Eupleres. . 669
Galidia . . 672
Mungotictis 674
Ga1idictis 676
Salanoia. . 677
Cryptoprocta . 678
The Civet-cat. 680
Conclusion . 681
Bibliography . 681
J. J. PETTER: Order ofpriDlates: Sub-order ofleDlurs 683
E. R. BRYGOO: HUDlan diseases and their relationship
to the EnvironDlent 703
The air and the soil . . . . . . 703
Men . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Mammals and human pathology 711
Invertebrates: Intermediate hosts and vectors 716
Present-day situation and outlook 717
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
XI