Native Plant Society of New Mexico Native Plant Society of New Mexico

Meeting. “Madagascar: The Red Island…A Naturalist’s Paradise,” presenter Zachary Rogers

Madagascar, as the 4th largest island in the world, is home to tens of thousands of native species of plants and animals that only occur there and nowhere else. Over millions of years, these fascinating endemic species have evolved specialized, often unique, adaptations for survival, with all of this taking place in isolation from ancestors living on nearby landmasses like Eastern Africa, India, and small Indian Ocean archipelagos. Sadly, Madagascar, as a slowly developing country, also has one of the most highly threatened floras and faunas in the world. Join us along with New Mexico State University plant scientist, Zachary Rogers, who will guide the group on a virtual tour of the island surveying its “mega-biodiversity”, while showcasing recent taxonomic plant research and new conservation efforts aimed at protecting the rarest, most threatened species. Zachary is Herbarium Curator in the Animal and Range Sciences Department at New Mexico State University. He also worked for many years for the Missouri Botanical Garden and has done extensive botanical research in Madagascar.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of the month at 7 PM at WNMU’s Harlan Hall, Rm. 219. Free and open to the public. Refreshments following the program. For more information check our website at www.gilanps.org/events/programs.