Madagascar Needs 23 Million Years of Evolution to Bring Back Biodiversity on the Island

The species in Madagascar are under threat of extinction, and when they do, it will take 23 million years for the island to recover, according to a new study.

Biodiversity in Madagascar Under Threat of Extinction

Madagascar is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot due to the abundance of unique species on the island. The island is particularly unique because 90% of the plant and animal species that live there are unique to it.

Numerous species have vanished from the island since humans landed there more than 2,500 years ago, including enormous lemurs, elephant birds, and dwarf hippos.

Unlike other islands, the faunas in Madagascar are well-preserved. Over 200 species survive, including fossa and the ring-tailed lemur.

However, over half of them risk extinction due to human activities. More than half of the 120 species of mammals in Madagascar are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (the IUCN Red List), Yahoo! reported.

A recent study found that it would take a shocking 3 million years to restore all of the species that have perished in Madagascar due to human activity. The study also discovered that it would take the island more than 20 million years to recover if all of its vulnerable species went extinct, which is much longer than any other island's recovery time.

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How Did the Researchers Perform the Study of Evolution in Madagascar

The researchers created a dataset of the evolutionary relationships of all mammals on the island when humans colonized Madagascar. The dataset includes living species of Malagasy mammals and those that have gone extinct and are only known from fossils.

They identified a total of 249 species, and 30 were already extinct. The IUCN Red List presently lists over 120 of the 219 mammal species that still exist on the island as being endangered with extinction because of habitat loss, climate change, and poaching.

With the given information, the scientists could calculate how long it would take for a similarly complex set of new mammal species to evolve if the endangered ones went extinct.

The researchers discovered that it would take Madagascar over 20 million years to recover if all the endangered animals went extinct. According to Luis Valente, a biologist at the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the island's recovery is much longer compared to New Zealand or the Caribbean.

Valente noted that the study is a reminder of how valuable the diversity on the island is.

Is There Hope for Madagascar to Avoid Extinction?

Steve Goodman, MacArthur field biologist at Chicago's Field Museum and scientific officer at Association Vahatra in Antananarivo, Madagascar, said that if no immediate action is taken, the island will lose 23 million years of its evolutionary history of mammals.

Given the lineage of unique mammals on the island, what's lost might never exist again.

However, he believes that there is still a chance to fix it. Goodman said they have five years to advance the conservation efforts in Madagascar.