Niche conservatism and conservation biology of Lepilemur in northwest Madagascar

The main goals of our study is to verify the existence and extent of niche conservatism in three closely related species within the genus Lepilemur, and to draw conclusions on the applicability of conservation protocols to a broader array of Lepilemur species. The genus is an exemplary of the mammalian fauna of Madagascar which high biological diversity is under increasingly severe threat from anthropogenic degradation of its forest habitats. This study focuses particularly on three poorly-known Lepilemur taxa: L. sahamalazensis, L. dorsalis and L. mittermeieri, uplisted into one of the threatened categories of the IUCN Red List.The genus is particularly negatively affected by deforestation and habitat fragmentation and all have a small distribution range, fairly small total populations. Their pattern of distribution appears to have been established through vicariant speciation, probably driven by changes in the configuration of the hydrographic system. Such a pattern permits to expect a high level of niche conservatism. We present here our preliminary results of an exploratory mission on 1) evaluation of Lepilemur abundance in forest patches on the Ampasindava Peninsula, the Sahamalaza Peninsula and the Manongarivo Special Reserve 2) sleeping sites characteristics of the three studied species.