Vegetation of southern part of the Isalo Sandstone Massif (Central Madagascar, Africa) – differentiation and threats. In: Hartel H., Cilek V., Hebren T. A. Jackson & R. Williams (eds.) Sandstone Landscapes

The Isalo National Park is the fourth largest and one of the earliest protected areas in Madagascar. It was created in 1962, and covers an area of about 82 000 ha. The whole park (especially its southern section) is intensively managed by the local community and frequented by tourists. This may create many conflicts between the objectives of nature protection and human activities such as tourism, cattle grazing and gathering of useful plants. Although scientists frequently visit the area (comp. Andrew and Hawkins 1999; Nicoll and Langrand 1989), the fauna and flora of Isalo are still insufficiently described. There are no ecological papers related exclusively to the Isalo Massif (Andrew and Hawkins 1999), and thus all information should be useful for future study. That is why I have decided to present a short characteristic of the vegetation of this area, which summarises my observations carried out in January 2002.