Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Tanzania
Agalega
AFRICA
Cargados
Carajos
Mozambique
Rodrigues
Madagascar
Reunion
(Fr.)
MAURITIUS
Indian Ocean
Figure 9.1. Map of the south west Indian Ocean showing location of Mauritius.
Mauritius has a very rich biodiversity and together with Madagascar and the
surrounding islands it forms part of one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
Mauritius is famous for being the only home of the Dodo (Cheke and Hume,
2008
). Following the colonization of the island, the Dodo rapidly disappeared
due to the consequences of human actions. The Dodo was not the only Mauritian
victim of man's actions. Of the fourteen endemic species of birds, eight have
gone extinct with the remaining six surviving ones all threatened according to
IUCN (
2008
). Out of three species of fruit bats, only one remains. Of the seven-
teen species of reptiles, six are extinct, including two species of tortoises and
among the remaining eleven, six are confined to small islets around Mauritius.
The same scenario, where humans have radically and detrimentally changed
the environment, applies for the island's terrestrial invertebrates and flora.
Human action such as forest destruction are among the culprits for the
demise of the Mauritian native fauna and flora. Forest destruction through
hardwood harvesting began in 1638 as soon as the island was colonized by
the Dutch and continued through the French occupation as they cleared forests
to make way for agriculture. The most recent survey of indigenous vegetation
cover remaining in Mauritius completed in the mid 1990s points to only about
2 percent of the original forest remaining and even those 2 percent consist of
highly degraded forest (Page and D'Argent,
1997
). The reason for this degrad-
ation is due mostly to invasive plant species introduced by man with at least
21 species now considered to be seriously threatening Mauritian biodiversity
(Florens,
2008
). Invasive alien animals also represent a major threat to native
fauna and flora. Mauritius has thirteen species of invasive alien species all of
which are believed to impact upon native wildlife. The major ones being feral
