Cooperating countries: Madagascar, Austria

Coordinating institution: University of Salzburg

Project coordinator: Robert Schabetsberger

Partner institution: University of Antananarivo

Project duration: 31.03.2026-31.03.2028

Budget: 22.760,00 €

In the next decade a key task in ecology will be to predict and mitigate the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem function. The island of Madagascar, with its unique fauna and flora, has lost more than half of its primary rainforest within the last 50 years. Surveys of aquatic organisms depicted Madagascar as a global hotspot for freshwater biodiversity, but the last pristine lake ecosystems are currently threatened by slash and burn agriculture, deforestation within their catchment area and by stocking with alien fish species. Additionally, global warming will result in hydrological changes impacting biodiversity. At the Bemanevika Lakes, in the northern highlands of Madagascar one of the rarest birds of the world, that was already considered extinct (Madagascar Pochard, Aythya innotata) was rediscovered. Numerous other rare and threatened species occur at the lakes and a protected area was created in 2015. However, the savannah has reached the Bemanevika Lakes and the protection of the remaining biodiversity remains challenging. We propose to study limnological conditions, planktonic and benthic species in the four crater lakes for the first time. Local authorities and the community will be informed about the danger of introducing alien fish species.