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Concept
Madagascar dry deciduous forests
Summary
The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of endemic plant and animal species but has suffered large-scale clearance for agriculture. They are among the world's richest and most distinctive dry forests and included in the Global 200 ecoregions by the World Wide Fund. The area is also home to distinctive limestone karst formations known as tsingy, including the World Heritage Site of Bemaraha.
There are two separate areas within the ecoregion: the western side of Madagascar from the Ampasindava peninsula in the north to Belo-sur-Tsiribihina and Maromandia in the south (this is most of Mahajanga Province); and the northern tip of the island (apart from the high areas of Amber Mountain). Geological substrate is varied and includes the tsingy limestone massifs.
These dry deciduous forests span the coastal plain with its limestone plateaus emanating virtually at sea level to higher altitudes to roughly . The area includes wetlands and grasslands (mostly created by forest clearance for agriculture) as well as dry forests characterized by a deciduous canopy extending to a height of .
Climate is tropical, with summer daytime temperatures commonly exceeding , and a wet season between October and April. Rainfall, ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 mm, is more abundant than in the spiny thickets and succulent woodlands, but lower than in the eastern lowland rainforests.
While the absolute number of plant species is lower than in the eastern rainforests of the island, the dry deciduous forests of Madagascar have a higher ratio of endemic species. Trees have adapted to the dry climate by shedding leaves in the dry winter season to limit evapotranspiration. Moreover, some species like baobabs and Moringa have adapted by evolving the ability to store copious water in their large bulbous trunks. Four species of baobabs, including three endemics (Adansonia grandidieri, A. madagascariensis and A. suarezensis) occur in this ecoregion.
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