General location: 16°10- 16°30 ' of south latitude and 48°50 ' - 49°10 ' longitude; Northeastern
Location and Access:
Climate: Seasonal dry forest
Average temperature:
Elevation:
Precipitation:
Description: Marotandrano is characterized by two distinct seasons: a warm rainy season (November to March) and a cool dry (April at October). The terrain consists of steep-sided valleys, rivers, and marshy wetlands. Most of the forest in the park is mid-altitude evergreen forest (78%) though savanna (14%), agricultural lands (1%), and degraded forest (6%) can be found as well.
FLORA: According to ANGAP, tropical forest has a closed canopy of 20m with 25m, with some emergent trees exceeding 30m in height. The canopy is primarily made up of Sloanea, Tambourissa, Eugenia, and Ravensara; the undersotry at 15-18m consists of young Syzygium, Eugenia, Ravensara, Ocotea, Mammea and Dracaena reflexa, Leptaulus citroïdes, Mapouria macrochalamys; while the herbaceous layer is made up primarily by Tsingialivolo and Velatra. Most of the forest grows on slopes. Species:
Almost all pictures on this site were taken with a Konica Minolta
Recent articles
Madagascar fires mapped with Google Earth in real-time Every year as much as one-third of Madagascar, one of the planet's most biodiverse islands, goes up in flames. Now a new tool gives scientists the ability to monitor and track Madagascar's fires in real-time through the Internet.
UNESCO lists rainforest parks of Madagascar as Heritage sites (7/2/2007) UNESCO has listed six rainforest parks in Madagascar as World Heritage sites. The announcement comes as the Indian Ocean island nation has moved aggressively to protect its biologically-rich forests from further degradation.
Conservation is saving lemurs and helping people in Madagascar (5/7/2007) Madagascar, an island nation that lies off the coast of southeastern Africa, has long been famous for its unique and diverse species of wildlife, especially lemurs--primates found nowhere else on the planet. In recent years, the island country has also become world-renowned for conservation efforts that are succeeding in spite of extraordinary pressures from a poor population that relies heavily on forest burning for basic subsistence. A large part of this success is due to the early efforts of Patricia Wright, a primatologist who has been working in the country for more than 20 years. Wright led the effort to launch the country's leading protected area and helped Madagascar become a leading global example of conservation despite its economic adversity.
