Fruit - eating lemurs are one of the most important dispersers of seminal fluid in Madagascar . But at least 17 metal money of Malagasy lemurs have gone extinct within the preceding few thousand twelvemonth . According to a comprehensive new field of study published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesthis week , the extinction of lemur would have huge disconfirming effect on the health of Madagascar ’s forests .
Having been sequestrate for so long , the island of Madagascar is home to a vast multifariousness of animals that are n’t find out elsewhere . lemur have a sort of feed scheme , and the fruit feeder ( or frugivores ) among them have complex relationships with native plants . former work with carbon 14 dating give away that the bulk of giant lemurs went extinct after human activity escalate on the island around 1,700 age ago . Based on tooth word structure , dental wear , and isotope depth psychology , researchers know that many of these nonextant lemur lineages act authoritative cum - dispersing roles . And all of them were much bigger than the lemurs we have today .
To investigate the evolutionary account of diet in Madagascar ’s lemur , Yale’sSarah Federmanand fellow worker analyzed genomic data , gape sizes , and dietary strategies of life and extinct lemurs , as well as the effects those losses had on plant survival of the fittest . They found that the experimental extinction of large - bodied lemur importantly fall the number of large - seed dispersers in Madagascar .
The team also place several " orphan " large - seed plants : These do n’t have any beast dispersers anymore , and their seeds were in all likelihood consumed and circularize by extinct lemurs . The evolutionary vogue toward larger cum – which may have once lead to the success of these Malagasy tree – may now hasten their descent . The plant persist for now thanks to their long generation times and seminal fluid dispersal by rodent and unassailable winds during cyclones . However , since large lemur are more efficient seed dispersers , the long - term endurance of these plant are in danger .
Furthermore , the investigator also identify lemur specie awake today that fill dispersal niches that are both unique and essential . Several of them are critically endangered specie , such as the Black person - and - white ruff lemur ( Varecia variegata ) pictured below . To love the turgid seeds ofCanariumtrees ( visualize to the right ) , they deem the yield in their impudence and expend the cusps of their teeth to kowtow the flesh off before swallowing it whole . The seeds are after fall out during the course of the lemur ' casual movements . diffuse away from the parent trees enhances gene menstruation and reduces competition among related mortal , and the extinction of these lemurs would jeopardize the future tense of large - seeded plant line of descent .
A pitch-dark - and - white ruffed lemur ( Varecia variegata ) . Sarah Federman
figure in the school text : Canarium fruit . Sarah Federman
