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Conservation efforts in Madagascar 's eastern rainforests are traditionally centred on large parcels of intact primary vegetation or corridors linking one or more forested areas. Recent work in Madagascar has demonstrated that fruit bats exert a positive and significant effect on the maintenance and regeneration of forests in Madagascar 1,2 and as such are a vital component to forest ecosystems. A recent assessment identified the national population of Pterops rufus as Vulnerable 3 . These bats frequently roost in small patches of forest that are overlooked by international and national conservation organisations. Protection of such roosts are important, not only for the integrity of the local environment which may still be reliant on small forest fragments for watershed maintenance and non-timber products, but also because individual bats can fly up to 50km and potentially influence forests, both intact and disturbed, over a wide area.
In the Analasoa area of eastern Madagascar , a small NGO called ACCE (Arongam-panihy (=local name for fruit bat): Culture, Communication and Environment), led by Andriamanana Rabearivelo (President) has been active since 1998. The organization's objective is to conserve local populations of fruit bats and the remaining natural forests. Despite no permanent source of funding, ACCE have already conducted pilot education program in primary schools, organized community group seminars on ‘the importance of bats' and have located a number of extant and abandoned fruit bat roosts.
With funding from Lubee Bat Conservancy, and in-situ support from Dr Richard Jenkins of Lamin'asa Fiarovana Ramanavy (Conservation of Malagasy Microchiroptera, a Darwin Initiative funded research group focussed on megabat and microbat studies in Madagascar ) , ACCE recently launched a monitoring programme for the Madagascar flying fox outside protected areas. Standard counts of bats at roosts are being carried out by ACCE's trained volunteer teams to record natural variation in the distribution and population abundance of P. rufus . ACCE's members are stationed in various small villages in the region ACCE's work is unique because it is located in a landscape dominated by grassy plains, pine plantations and rice fields. There are only a handful of small natural forest fragments remaining in the valleys, some of which are used by Pteropus .
1.Bollen, A. and Van Elsacker, L. (2002) Feeding ecology of Pteropus rufus (Pteropodidae) in the littoral forest of Sanite Luce , SE Madagascar . Acta Chiropterologica 4, 33-47
2. Ratrimomanarivo, F.H. (2003) Etude du regime alimentaire de Eidolon dupreanum (Pollen, 1866) dans les hautes-terres centrals Malagaches. Memoire de Diplomes d'études Approfondies, Sciences Biologiques Appliquees. Departement Biologie Animal. University of Antananarivo .
3.Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN) (2002) Evaluation et Plans de Gestion pour la Conservation (CAMP) de la Faune de Madagascar. Lémuriens, Autres Mammifères, Reptiles et Amphibiens, Poissons d'eau douce et Evaluation de la Viabilité des Populations et des Habitats de Hypogeomys anitmena (Vositse). CBSG. Apple Valley , MN .
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