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Wildlife consumption can be viewed as an ecosystem provisioning service (the production of a material good through ecological functioning) because of wildlife's ability to persist under sustainable levels of harvest. We used the case of wildlife harvest and consumption in northeastern Madagascar to identify the distribution of these services to local households and communities to further our understanding of local reliance on natural resources. We inferred these benefits from demand curves built with data on wildlife sales transactions. On average, the value of wildlife provisioning represented 57% of annual household cash income in local communities from the Makira Natural Park and Masoala National Park, and harvested areas produced an economic return of U.S.$0.42 ha⁻¹· year⁻¹. Variability in value of harvested wildlife was high among communities and households with an approximate 2 orders of magnitude difference in the proportional value of wildlife to household income. The imputed price of harvested wildlife and its consumption were strongly associated (p< 0.001), and increases in price led to reduced harvest for consumption. Heightened monitoring and enforcement of hunting could increase the costs of harvesting and thus elevate the price and reduce consumption of wildlife. Increased enforcement would therefore be beneficial to biodiversity conservation but could limit local people's food supply. Specifically, our results provide an estimate of the cost of offsetting economic losses to local populations from the enforcement of conservation policies. By explicitly estimating the welfare effects of consumed wildlife, our results may inform targeted interventions by public health and development specialists as they allocate sparse funds to support regions, households, or individuals most vulnerable to changes in access to wildlife. Valoración Económica de la Caza de Subsistencia de Vida Silvestre en Madagascar

Terrestrial wildlife is the primary source of meat for hundreds of millions of people throughout the developing world. Despite widespread human reliance on wildlife for food, the impact of wildlife depletion on human health remains poorly understood. Here we studied a prospective longitudinal cohort of 77 preadolescent children (under 12 y of age) in rural northeastern Madagascar and show that consuming more wildlife was associated with significantly higher hemoglobin concentrations. Our empirical models demonstrate that removing access to wildlife would induce a 29% increase in the numbers of children suffering from anemia and a tripling of anemia cases among children in the poorest households. The well-known progression from anemia to future disease demonstrates the powerful and far-reaching effects of lost wildlife access on a variety of human health outcomes, including cognitive, motor, and physical deficits. Loss of access to wildlife could arise either from the diligent enforcement of existing conservation policy or from unbridled unsustainable harvest, leading to depletion. Conservation enforcement would enact a more rapid restriction of resources, but self-depletion would potentially lead, albeit more slowly, both to irrevocable local wildlife extinctions and loss of the harvested resource. Our research quantifies costs of reduced access to wildlife for a rural community in Madagascar and illuminates pathways that may broadly link reduced natural resource access to declines in childhood health.

Subsistence hunting presents a conservation challenge by which biodiversity preservation must be balanced with safeguarding of human livelihoods. Globally, subsistence hunting threatens primate populations, including Madagascar’s endemic lemurs. We used population viability analysis to assess the sustainability of lemur hunting in Makira Natural Park, Madagascar. We identified trends in seasonal hunting of 11 Makira lemur species from household interview data, estimated local lemur densities in populations adjacent to focal villages via transect surveys, and quantified extinction vulnerability for these populations based on species-specific demographic parameters and empirically derived hunting rates. We compared stagebased Lefkovitch with periodic Leslie matrices to evaluate the impact of regional dispersal on persistence trajectories and explored the consequences of perturbations to the timing of peak hunting relative to the lemur birth pulse, under assumptions of density-dependent reproductive compensation. Lemur hunting peaked during the fruit-abundant wet season (March–June). Estimated local lemur densities were roughly inverse to body size across our study area. Life-history modeling indicated that hunting most severely threatened the species with the largest bodies (i.e., Hapalemur occidentalis, Avahi laniger, Daubentonia madagascariensis, and Indri indi), characterized by late-age reproductive onsets and long interbirth intervals. In model simulations, lemur dispersal within a regional metapopulation buffered extinction threats when a majority of local sites supported growth rates above the replacement level but drove regional extirpations when most local sites were overharvested. Hunt simulations were most detrimental when timed to overlap lemur births (a reality for D. madagascariensis and I. indri). In sum, Makira lemurs were overharvested. Regional extirpations, which may contribute to broad-scale extinctions, will be likely if current hunting rates persist. Cessation of anthropogenic lemur harvest is a conservation priority, and development programs are needed to help communities switch from wildlife consumption to domestic protein alternatives. La caza de subsistencia representa un reto de conservación ante el cual la preservación de la biodiversidad debe balancearse con la salvaguardia del sustento humano. A nivel mundial, la caza de subsistencia amenaza a las poblaciones de primates, incluyendo a los lémures endémicos de Madagascar. Usamos análisis de viabilidad poblacional (PVA, en inglés) para evaluar la sustentabilidad de la caza de lémures en el Parque Natural Makira, Madagascar. Identificamos tendencias en la caza estacional de 11 especies de lémur en Makira a partir de información obtenida con entrevistas a hogares, estimamos las densidades locales de lémures en las poblaciones adyacentes a aldeas focales por medio de censos de transecto, y cuantificamos la vulnerabilidad a la extinción para estas poblaciones con base en parámetros demográficos específicos por especie y las tasas de caza derivadas empíricamente. Comparamos el modelo Lefkovitch basado en estadios con matrices periódicas de Leslie para evaluar el impacto de la dispersión regional sobre las trayectorias de persistencia y exploramos las consecuencias de las perturbaciones al momento justo del punto máximo de caza en relación con el pulso de nacimiento de lémures, bajo suposición de la compensación reproductiva dependiente de la densidad. La caza de lémures alcanzó su puntomáximodurante la temporada lluviosa con abundancia de frutos (marzo – junio). Las densidades locales estimadas de lémures fueron aproximadamente inversas al tamaño corporal a lo largo de nuestra área de estudio. El modelado de historias de vida indicóque la caza amenazó con mayor severidad a las especies con tallas mayores (es decir, Hapalemur occidentalis, Avahi laniger, Daubentonia madagascariensis, Indri indri), caracterizadas por tener un arranque reproductivo a una edad tardía e intervalos largos entre nacimientos. En las simulaciones modeladas, la dispersión de los lémures dentro de una metapoblación regional amortiguó las amenazasde extinción cuando una mayoría de sitios locales respaldó las tasas de crecimiento por encima del nivel de reemplazo pero condujo a las extirpaciones locales cuando la mayoría de los sitios tuvo sobreexplotación. Las simulaciones de caza fueron más nocivas cuando se programaron para sobreponerse a los nacimientos de lémures x(una realidad para D. madagascariensis e I. indri). En resumen, existe una sobreexplotación de lémures en Makira. Las extirpaciones regionales, las cuales pueden contribuir a las extinciones a escala general, serán probables sí las tasas de caza actuales continúan. El cese de explotación humana de lémures es una prioridad para la conservación, y se necesitan programas de desarrollo para ayudar a las comunidades a cambiar el consumo de fauna silvestre por alternativas domésticas de proteína. 生计狩猎是保护工作的ー项挑故， 它要求保护生物多祥性必须与保障人类生计相平衡。全球的灵长 类动觀包括马达加斯加特有的狐猴，都面临着生计狩猎的威胁。我们用种群生存力分析评估了马达加斯 加 Makira 自然公园狐猴狩猎的可持续性。利用访问调查的数瑕我们确定了Maktra自然公园 11 种狐猴面搞 的季节性狩猎态勢，并通过样带调查估计了村庄附近狐猴的局域种群密度，还根据物种特异的种群参数和狩猎率 经验值量化了这些种群灭绝的脆弱性。我们比较了基于阶段的 Lefkovitch 矩阵与周期性的 Leslie 矩阵，以评估 区域性扩散对种群续存的影响，还在密度依赖性繁殖补偿的假设下探讨了狩猎高峰期相对于狐猴出生潮发生扰 动所带来的影响。水果丰富的雨季（三月到六月）是狩猎狐猴的高峰期。在我们的研究区域，区域狐猴密度的 估计值大致与体型大小成反比。生活史建模表明，体型最大的物种伽 Hapalemur occidentalism Avahi laniger, Daubentonia madagascariensis 和 Indriindt)受狩猎威胁最为严重，这些物神多具有开始繁殖的年龄晚、繁 殖间隔长的特点。在模型模拟中，当大多数局部位点的种群增长率高于更替水平时，区域集合种群中狐猴的扩 散可以缓冲灭绝的威胁，而当大多数位点都受到过度狩猎时，扩散则会导致区域性灭绝。当狩猎与狐猴出生时 间重合时，模拟得出狩猎的危害最大 (D. madagascariensis和I. tndri的真实情况如此))。 总的来说M akira自然 公园的狐猴已受到过度狩猎。如果维持现有的狩猎率狐猴可能会发生区域性灭绝，进而导致大范围的灭绝。目 前的保护重点是停止人类对狐猴的狩猎行为，需要推动发展计划来帮助当地社区居民从野生动物转向以家畜作 为肉类食物来源.

Aim Species’ distributions and abundances are primarily determined by the suitability of environmental conditions, including climate and interactions with sympatric species, but also increasingly by human activities. Modelling tools can help in assessing the extinction risk of affected species. By combining species distribution modelling of abiotic and biotic niches with population size modelling, we estimated the abundance of 19 lemur taxa in three regions, especially focusing on 10 species that are considered Endangered or Critically Endangered. Location Madagascar. Taxa Lemurs (Primates) and angiosperm trees. Methods We used climate data, field samples, and published occurrence data on trees to construct species distribution models (SDM) for lemur food tree species. We then inferred the SDMs for lemurs based on the probability of occurrence of their food trees as well as climate. Finally, we used tree SDMs, topography, distance to the forest edge, and field estimates of lemur population density to predict lemur abundance in general linear models. Results The SDMs of lemur food trees were stronger predictors of the occurrence of lemurs than climate. The predicted probability of presence of food trees, slope, elevation, and distance from the forest edge were significant correlates of lemur density. We found that sixteen species had minimum estimated abundances greater than 10,000 individuals over >1,000km2. Three lemur species are especially threatened, with less than 2,500 individuals predicted for Cheirogaleus sibreei, and heavy hunting pressure for the relatively small populations of Indri indri and Hapalemur occidentalis. Main conclusions Biotic interactors were important variables in SDMs for lemurs, allowing refined estimates of ranges and abundances. This paper provides an analytical workflow that can be applied to other taxonomic groups to substantiate estimates of species’ vulnerability to extinction.

Pica, the craving and purposive consumption of non-food substances, is of public health concern for its potential deleterious and salubrious health consequences. However, neither its prevalence nor demographic correlates have been well characterized. Therefore, we conducted the first population-based study of pica and amylophagy in Madagascar. From February to December 2009, we surveyed pica and amylophagy behaviors in a random sample of 760 individuals >5 years in 167 households among two ethnic groups in 16 villages in the Makira Protected Area of Madagascar. Of the 760 individuals interviewed, 62.5% were children (5-11 years), 5.4% were adolescents (12-16 years), and 35.1% were adults (≥ 17 years). Thirteen non-food items were reported being consumed. Across the entire population in the prior year, the prevalence of geophagy was 53.4%, of amylophagy, 85.2%, and of other pica substances (e.g. charcoal, chalk) was 19.0%. The prevalence of these behaviors was not higher during pregnancy. These findings differ from previous studies in terms of the higher overall prevalence of these behaviors, the high prevalence among men, and the absence of any peak in behaviors during pregnancy. However, there are two categories of substances that elevate our estimates but fall outside the strict definition of pica as a craving: 1) substances consumed for self-medication and 2) substances viewed as food, such as all amylophagic substances in this case. Our results suggest that population-based studies of pica should include males of all ages. Further, the prevalence of the behavior underscores the importance of understanding the etiology and health consequences of these ingestive behaviors (Abstract S1).

Botanical diversity provides value to humans through carbon sequestration, air and water purification, and the provisioning of wild foods and ethnomedicines. Here we calculate the value of botanical ethnomedicines in a rainforest region of Madagascar, the Makira Protected Area, using a substitution method that combines replacement costs and choice modeling. The Makira watershed may comprise approximately 0.8% of global botanical diversity and possesses enormous value both in its ability to provision botanical ethnomedicines to local people and as a source of potentially novel pharmaceutical drugs for society as a whole. Approximately 241 locally-recognized species are used as ethnomedicines, including 113 agricultural or weed species. We equated each ethnomedicinal treatment to the monetary value of a comparable pharmaceutical treatment adjusted by personal preferences in perceived efficacy (rather than from known or assumed medicinal equivalency). The benefit value of these botanical ethnomedicines per individual is $5.40-7.90 per year when using the value of highly subsidized Malagasy pharmaceuticals and $100.60-287.40 when using the value of American pharmaceuticals. Using local pharmaceuticals as substitutes, the value per household is $30.24-44.30 per year, equivalent to 43-63% of median annual household income, demonstrating their local importance. Using the value of American pharmaceuticals, the amount is equivalent to 22-63% of the median annual health care expenditures for American adults under 45 in 2006. The potential for developing novel biomedicines from the Makira watershed's unique flora ranges in untapped benefit value from $0.3-5.7 billion for American pharmaceutical companies, non-inclusive of the importance of providing novel medicines and improved healthcare to society. This study provides evidence of the tremendous current local and prospective global value of botanical ethnomedicines and furthers arguments for the conservation of tropical forests for sustainable use.