Madagascar is one of the world’s most irreplaceable biodiversity hotspots, but faces one of the highest deforestation rates globally. The coevolution of endemic species on Madagascar makes it a perfect setting to study positive interactions because entire ecosystems were dependent on internal inputs, unlike other systems that are flooded by inputs from other sources. The trees and their symbionts became especially adapted to poor soils, cyclones, and fires, proving their resilience and serving as a model for understanding other systems. Forest degradation, however has resulted in rapid erosion, species losses, and reduced natural regeneration capacity.
Innovative Direction
The long-term research plans are rigorous, science‑driven, and co-created and led by communities for whom restoration is fundamental to their livelihoods. This program will investigate how positive interactions among organisms promote restoration success, focused on a 5-year project in the northeast rainforests of Madagascar, home to two dozen species of lemurs. By combining passive restoration, active reforestation, and innovative use of positive interactions, this initiative aims to generate scalable models for forest restoration.
Our Team
Faculty Advisor
1st Year Lead
Our Goals
Test How Positive Interactions Enhance Restoration Success Through Practical Design Principles
Assess impacts of Positive Interactions on Social-Ecological Systems to Generate Scalable Restoration Recommendations
The project will produce the first integrated evaluation of:
- Testing effects of positive interactions like density dependence, mutualisms, and facilitation through field experiments in Madagascar
- Active vs. passive restoration outcomes
- Effects of mutualist plants on soil nitrogen, organic matter, moisture, and microbial activity
- Restoration impacts on seedling survival, diversity, and growth across ecological gradients
- Restoration impacts on livelihoods and nature’s contributions to people including empowerment, equity, and positive mental health
- Patterns of natural regeneration relative to past disturbance
- Practical restoration models tailored to Madagascar’s rainforest ecosystems
Activities
Monitoring living laboratories: two plots within forests (COMATSA‑Sud Protected Area) where lemurs are naturally occurring and continue to contribute to mutualistic relationships like seed dispersal and two plots outside of lemur access.
Outputs will include:
- Manuals and policy briefs for implementing positive interactions in forest restoration
- Soil recovery frameworks using mutualistic plants
- Guidelines for when passive vs. active restoration is most effective
- A scalable model for long‑term restoration experiments
- Training for Malagasy students, Duke students and postdocs, and community partners
- Cross-disciplinary collaborations with Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Lemur Center, Duke Evolutionary Anthropology, Nicholas School of the Environment, Sanford School of Public Policy, and more.
