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Coevolution Of Cyanogenic Bamboos And Bamboo Lemurs On Madagascar, Daniel J. Ballhorn, Fanny Patrika Rakotoarivelo, Stefanie Kautz

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Feeding strategies of specialist herbivores often originate from the coevolutionary arms race of plant defenses and counter-adaptations of herbivores. The interaction between bamboo lemurs and cyanogenic bamboos on Madagascar represents a unique system to study diffuse coevolutionary processes between mammalian herbivores and plant defenses. Bamboo lemurs have different degrees of dietary specialization while bamboos show different levels of chemical defense. In this study, we found variation in cyanogenic potential (HCNp) and nutritive characteristics among five sympatric bamboo species in the Ranomafana area, southeastern Madagascar. The HCNp ranged from 209±72 μmol cyanide* g^-1 dwt in Cathariostachys madagascariensis to no cyanide …