New study shakes up long-standing beliefs about lemur evolution: 'A positive association between cyclone impact and body size'

Scientists have discovered there is no correlation between the resilience of lemurs living on Madagascar and the number of cyclones the island country encounters.

What's happening?

In an article for The Conversation, Alison Behie, a professor of biological anthropology at Australian National University, detailed how her and her colleagues' research proved this commonly believed connection is false.

It is thought this correlation was true because cyclones are common around Madagascar. Because weather patterns are so unpredictable, there was a theory that lemurs had evolved resilient behavior over time to face cyclones.

The research team created a "resilience score" for each species. Each species would get a point for traits like hibernation and energy-conserving behaviors. The team acknowledged that its scope is limited since it was only looking at cyclone data from the last 58 years.

Even though Behie and her colleagues' research concluded that the correlation did not exist, it did uncover a crucial truth. "We did however find a positive association between cyclone impact and body size," Behie wrote in The Conversation. "This suggests that the more a lemur species is affected by cyclones, the smaller they are."

Why are lemurs important to Madagascar?

According to the Lemur Conservation Network, about 90% of Madagascar's flora and fauna, including lemurs, is native only to Madagascar. Lemurs are also central to Madagascar's biodiversity since they disperse seeds and also pollinate plants.

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The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has 103 out of 107 lemur species on its Red List. The IUCN considers all of those lemurs either vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

What's being done about threats to lemur species?

While there is still conservation work to be done, studies like that of Behie's team can help conservationists better understand how to protect lemurs.

For example, lemurs are great pollinators because they eat fruit and drop undigested seeds. But fruit, as Behie said, is "one of the first food items to disappear after a cyclone." Lemurs that primarily eat leaves will likely have more luck in finding food when a natural disaster strikes.

There are also several ways to support lemurs that the LCN recommends. These actions include supporting the Malagasy people, who are indigenous to Madagascar; volunteering from home or in Madagascar; and learning about lemurs.