Disturbance Footprint in Fragmented Tropical Rainforests: An Integrated Approach to Ecosystem Health Assessment in Madagascar
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Assessing the health of ecosystems subjected to multiple and interacting anthropogenic pressures requires integrative, cross-disciplinary approaches that draw on diverse ecological indicators.Despite growing global awareness of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, especially in tropical rainforests, research that addresses the cumulative and synergistic impacts of different stressors remains scarce.In this thesis, I adopt a holistic, multidisciplinary framework that integrates acoustic, geospatial, and chemical analyses to investigate the effects of human-induced disturbances on the fragmented rainforests of Eastern Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot currently facing severe ecological threats.In Chapter one, I conduct a systematic review of the impacts of chemical pollution on biodiversity across Eastern Africa.Owing to the paucity of research focused specifically on Madagascar, I broaden the scope to encompass the wider region, identifying shared ecological vulnerabilities and methodological challenges in detecting and evaluating chemical pollutants.This review establishes the conceptual and empirical foundation for selecting relevant indicators in the subsequent chapter.Chapter two presents a comparative field study across three rainforest sites differing in landscape structure and ecological condition, which reflect varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance.By integrating passive acoustic monitoring, land use analysis, and water quality assessment, I examine how chemical, spatial, and acoustic variables co-vary with habitat degradation.The results reveal consistent patterns of ecological disruption detectable across different methods, offering novel and scalable indicators of anthropogenic disturbance.These findings aim to contribute to broader ecosystem health monitoring frameworks applicable to other threatened tropical forests.The final two chapters examine the bioacoustic dimension of the study, focusing on the occurrence of nonlinear phenomena (NLP)
Author: CRISTIANO, WALTER
Institutions: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, University of Turin
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
Funder: Università degli Studi di Torino
OpenAlex ID: W7217359626