Plant community responses to habitat fragmentation and anthropogenic degradation in the littoral forests of southeastern Madagascar.

Conversion of intact forest into smaller, isolated fragments results in a number of profound and quantifiable changes. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of fragmentation and to understand better how Malagasy forest structure and composition is affected by landscape-level factors. A total of 3476 trees representing 169 species in 55 families were recorded in 50 x 50 m plots, and 10,282 understory stems representing 195 species in 54 families were found in 10 x 10 m plots. Fragments differed significantly in both tree and understory stem density, species richness and diversity values, and family richness values. Patch- and landscape-level features were used to examine the patterns of density and diversity, and included: fragment size, fragment perimeter-area index, internal perimeter created by roads and trails in each fragment, and the number of villages (as an indicator of human population pressure) per hectare of forest in three expanding radii of 5, 7.5, and 10 km. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Biological Sciences. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2001 .C35. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-06, page: 1461. Adviser: Jon Lovett-Doust. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2001.