FSML: Improvement in the Ranomafana National Park Research Station in Madagascar

在过去五年中，马达加斯加拉诺马法纳国家公园研究站(RNPRS)的年使用量从58名国际科学家增加到213名。然而，这些设施对于这些使用水平来说太小了，为现代科学研究技术提供的实验室设施不足，而且与国际社会没有直接联系。该项目将提高考察站的能力，以满足研究马达加斯加热带雨林的科学家现在和未来的需求。该项目将对现有设施进行升级。它将提供一个餐厅和演讲厅、一个门房、一个发电机棚、一座通往研究区的桥梁，以及各种基本设备。这次拟议的升级是两年规划过程的结果。拉诺马法纳国家公园研究站位于拉诺马法纳国家公园，占地43,500公顷。位于马达加斯加东南部的热带雨林。该空间站由隶属于纽约州立大学斯通尼·布鲁克的热带环境保护研究所(ICTE)运营。自1989年空间站建成以来，超过125名教职员工级别的研究人员和两倍多的学生(大多数来自美国大学)在RNP进行了研究。马达加斯加国家森林研究中心是马达加斯加最重要的热带雨林研究和培训中心，也是唯一一个拥有不止一座永久性建筑的研究站。马达加斯加是世界十大生物多样性热点地区之一，该地区拥有世界上不成比例的大量动植物物种(Myers 1986，Mittermeier 1988)。马达加斯加的大多数物种是地方性物种，因为该岛与大陆分离了1亿多年，物种是在孤立中进化的(Krause、Hartman和Wells 1997)。马达加斯加的热带雨林栖息地受到人类活动(伐木、砍伐和焚烧农业、狩猎)的严重威胁，导致79%的原始热带雨林栖息地消失。高度的物种多样性、长期的与世隔绝、高度的地方性和严重的威胁使马达加斯加热带雨林成为强烈的科学和保护兴趣的焦点。由于同样的原因，RNP的热带雨林与一些研究较好的位于新热带、非洲和亚洲的热带雨林相比是一个极好的比较。

Annual use of the Ranomafana National Park Research Station (RNPRS) in Madagascar has grown from 58 to 213 international scientists in the past five years. However, the facilities are too small for these usage levels, provide inadequate laboratory facilities for modern scientific research techniques, and have no direct communication with the international community. This project will improve the ability of the research station to meet the present and future needs of scientists who study this Madagascar rain forest. The project will upgrade the existing facilities. It will provide a dining and lecture hall, a gatehouse, a generator shed, a bridge to research areas, as well as various basic equipment. This proposed upgrade is the result of a 2-year planning process.Ranomafana National Park Research Station is located in Ranomafana National Park (RNP), which covers 43,500 ha. of rain forest in southeast Madagascar. The station is operated by the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments (ICTE), affiliated with the State University of New York at Stoney Brook. Over 125 faculty-level researchers and over twice that number of students, most from US universities, have conducted research at RNP since the station was built in 1989. The RNPrS is the most important center for rain forest research and training in Madagascar and the only research station with more than one permanent building.Madagascar is one of the world's top ten biodiversity hot spots, containing a disproportionately high number of the world's plant and animal species for its area (Myers 1986, Mittermeier 1988). Most of Madagascar's species are endemic because the island has been separated from the mainland for well over a hundred million years and species have evolved in isolation (Krause, Hartman, and Wells 1997). The rain forest habitat of Madagascar is severely threatened by human activities (logging, slash and burn agriculture, hunting) resulting in the disappearance of 79% of the original rain forest habitat. High species diversity, long isolation, high endemicity, and severe threat make Madagascar rain forests a focus of intense scientific and conservation interest. For these same reasons, the rain forest at RNP serves as an excellent comparison to some of the better-studied rain forest sited in the Neotropics, Africa, and Asia.