The grassy ecosystems of Madagascar in context: Ecology, evolution, and conservation

Abstract

Madagascar is famous for its unique forests and their fauna. Most of the island is covered by flammable grassy ecosystems long considered to be of human origin and threatening the remaining forests. Yet new studies show that many plants and animals of the grassy systems are unique to Madagascar and restricted to these open habitats. Open grassy ecosystems have markedly different management requirements from forests and bring different contributions to society. We argue that the grassy ecosystems can benefit Madagascar if understood and managed wisely using expanded knowledge bases that also include collaboration with locals.Until recently, nearly all research and interests in Madagascar focused on forested habitats. To help place Madagascar's grassy ecosystems in context, we provide a summary of the origin, development, and evolution of open tropical, C4 grassy ecosystems elsewhere, especially those from Africa; we summarize similarities and differences with the distribution of C3 and C4 grasses in the Malagasy landscape, their plant traits, and inferences on the evolutionary legacy of grasses. We also discuss the animal communities that use and have coevolved in these grassy systems; to help resolve controversies over the pre‐settlement extent of grassy ecosystems, we suggest a variety of complementary geochemical, palaeobotanical, and molecular genetic tools that have been effectively used elsewhere to untangle forest/grassy ecosystem mosaics and the ecological and evolutionary processes that influence them. Many of these tools can and should be employed in Madagascar to fully understand the spatio‐temporal dynamics of open, grassy, and closed forest systems across the island; as regards conservation, we discuss the ecosystem services provided by grassy systems, which are too often ignored in general, not only as a biome, vis‐à‐vis forests, but also for their global importance as a carbon sink and role they play in water management and providing goods to local villagers. We conclude by outlining the necessary research to better manage open ecosystems across Madagascar without threatening endangered forest ecosystems.