Description: Over the past half century, slash-and-burn rice farming on Madagascar has slowly expanded from the coastal lowlands into the dense tropical forests of the island's central plateau--many of which are officially protected reserves. This rapid assessment focuses on the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale of d'Ankarafantsika, in the northern portion of the island. The area is filled with diverse endemic species, but increasingly threatened by local agricultural methods, and this assessment is critical to the process of evaluating risks and developing sound conversation policies for the future.
Brief description: Leeanne E. Alonso is director of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program. Jessica Deichmann is a research associate with Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program in Arlington, Virginia. Sheila A. McKenna is a marine ecologist and senior research scientistwith SEAlliance. Piotr Naskrecki is an entomologist, invertebrate conservationist, and nature writer and photographer, currently with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Stephen Richards is managerof Conservation International'sRAPbiodiversity assessmentprogram for theAsia-Pacific region, aResearch Associateat the South AustralianMuseum, and a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature'sAmphibian Red-list Authority.