As a primate ecologist I am interested in how habitat change affects the behavior and the biology of Madagascar primates. My work focuses on how primate populations directly respond to forest degradation, fragmentation. Since 2003 my project on wild ring-tailed lemurs, Lemur catta,  studies how both immediate and long term environmental factors, such as climate and anthropogenic change affect Malagasy primate behavior and biology. Key components include yearly monitoring of health and population dynamics. This data set is unrivaled among current primate research, and is extremely relevant to on-going work on the effects of climate and habitat change on the world’s endangered animals and how primates adapt to such changes.

Domaines d’expertise/Area of expertise: Behavior, ecology, morphometrics, parasites and maladies

Espèces étudiées / Species: Lemur catta (the ring-tailed lemur)

Dr. Onja H. Razafindratsima is an ecologist dedicated to the study of the processes and mechanisms that determine the structure and diversity of ecological communities in natural and human-modified environments. Some of her recent research focused on understanding the importance of seed dispersal by lemur frugivores in structuring plant communities in Malagasy rain forests, and the consequences of lemur loss on forest integrity and human wellbeing. She also investigates how past extinction of lemurs in the Holocene influence the structure of present-day lemur communities and how these patterns of extinctions relates to current extinction threats to improve predictions of future species declines and guide conservation efforts of these highly threatened taxa.

After receiving her Ph.D at Oxford Brookes University – UK, she founded the Sifaka Conservation programme aiming at protecting the remaining crowned sifaka populations in small and fragmented forests by establishing the metapopulation management approach. She is currently leading the Environment Department at Ambatovy Company, and is also giving lectures at the University of Antananarivo, department of Anthropology and Sustainable Development. Her interests include applied ecology for conservation management and decision-making processes, Sustainable development for the benefit of biodiversity Conservation. She also believes that practical environmental education would make big differences in the long-term community development and biodiversity conservation.