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Third-round winnerEvolutionary laboratory |
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Anne Yoder, a recent addition to the faculty of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A., studies Madagascar as an evolutionary laboratory for generating vertebrate diversity, with special attention to the island's lemur populations and their close relatives on the nearby African continent. Lemurs, which are generally small animals with opposable thumbs and prehensile tails, are among the most diverse primates on Earth, and Madagascar has long drawn scientists who want to study them — and to lobby for protecting them. One text on the lemurs of Madagascar says that of the island's 50 lemu taxa (a grouping within the classification of organisms), 10 are considered critically endangered, 7 are endangered, and 19 are vulnerable. Anne Yoder has studied lemurs in the field and in her lab, but she has also taken an important step beyond that. She has established a conservation biology training program for Malagasy faculty and students. This includes bringing promising researchers to her university lab in the U.S. for hands-on training in conservation techniques. Several of these students now have returned to Madagascar and are filling leadership positions in the nation's scientific community. ¤ |
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