April 7, 2013
University of Phoenix
Associate Level Material
Lemurs in Madagascar Assignment
View the “Lemurs in Madagascar – Surviving on an Island of Change” video.
Using the information found in this video, and in Ch. 5 and 6 of Visualizing Environmental Science, answer the following questions in 25 to 100 words each.
1. What are Madagascar’s biomes? Discuss the major features of at least one of these biomes. Use the textbook for biome examples. Madagascar is an island. There are several different types of ecosystems throughout. It has tropical forests in the eastern region, dry forests in the southwestern region, man-made grasslands, natural wetlands, and coral reefs on the coasts. The most common ecosystem is the rainforest. The lowland rainforest’s elevation is about 800 meters. It is the most biologically rich ecosystem in Madagascar. They are very humid and rainy. Typically lowland rainforests have very well developed canopies. Lowland equatorial evergreen rain forests are forests which receive high rainfall (more than 2000 mm, or 80 inches, annually) throughout the year. These forests occur in a belt around the equator, with the largest areas in the Amazon Basin of South America, the Congo Basin of Central Africa, Indonesia, and New Guinea.
2. What changes happening in Madagascar are posing challenges for lemurs? Give details about the sources, time scale, and types of change. There were approximately 60 million lemurs that stretched across Madagascar roughly 160 million years ago. Today Madagascar is home to nearly 60 lemurs. One type of change would be the climate change. Climate change could further threaten Madagascar's endangered lemurs by fueling the spread of parasites carrying deadly diseases. Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns could lead to lemur parasites expanding their range.
3. Which types of lemurs...