Onja Razafindratsima

Assistant Professor

Email: onja@berkeley.edu
Phone:
Lab Webpage: https://www.razafindratsima.org/

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Research Description

I am an ecologist, broadly interested in tropical ecology, plant-frugivore interactions and community ecology. I also aim to apply my research findings to biodiversity conservation. Much of my work has been conducted in the tropical forests of Madagascar, with a focus on lemurs and plants. However, I have been collaborating on ecological research in other systems. I have been involved in projects that aims to:

  • provide new insights about the roles and impacts of frugivorous vertebrates in terrestrial systems as seed dispersal agents,
  • identify mechanisms that underlie the structure of ecological communities
  • characterize biodiversity responses to ecological changes (e.g., land use, defaunation, invasive species)
  • investigate the drivers and consequences of species extinctions
  • apply ecological research to guide forest restoration and biodiversity conservation

I often use an integrative approach combining empirical work, such as field surveys and experiments, with simulation-based modeling and phylogenetic tools to address my research questions at various spatial and temporal scales.

Selected Publications

DeSisto, C., Park, D.S., Davis, C.C., Ramananjato, V. , Tonos, J.M., and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2020. An invasive species spread by endangered lemurs impacts rainforest structure in Madagascar. Biological Invasions https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02293-7

Ramananjato, V., Rakotomalala, Z., Park, D.S., DeSisto, C., Raoelinjanakolona, N. , Guthrie, N., Fenosoa, Z.E. , Johnson, S., and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2020. The role of nocturnal omnivores as seed dispersers in Malagasy rain forests. Biotropica 52:758-765

Carvalho, F., Brown, K.A., Waller, P.M., Razafindratsima, O.H. and Boom, A. 2020. Phylogenetic diversity of lowland fens is more sensitive to management than functional diversity. Plant Ecology 221: 441-457

Albert-Daviaud, A., Buerki, S., Onjalalaina, G.E., Perillo, S., Rabarijaona, R., Razafindratsima, O.H., Sato, H., Valenta, K., Wright, P.C and Wolfgang, S. 2020. The ghost fruits of Madagascar: Identifying dysfunctional seed dispersal in Madagascar’s endemic flora. Biological Conservation 242:108438

Rogers, H., Beckman, N., Hartig, F., Johnson, J., Pufal, G., Shea, K., Zurell, D., Bullock, J., Loiselle, B., Pejchar, L., Razafindratsima, O.H., Sandor, M., Schupp, E., Strickland, C. and Zambrano, J. 2019. The total dispersal kernel: a review and future directions. AoB Plants 11: plz042

Park, D.S. and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2019.Anthropogenic threats can have cascading homogenizing effects on the phylogenetic and functional diversity of tropical forests. (ǂ equal contributions) Ecography 42:148-161 

Razafindratsima, O.H., Gentles, A., Drager, A.P., Razafimahaimodison, J.C., Ralazampirenena, C.J. and Dunham, A.E. 2018. Consequences of lemur loss for above-ground carbon stocks in a Malagasy rainforest. International Journal of Primatology 39:415-426

Dunham, A.E., Razafindratsima, O.H., Rakotonirina, P. and Wright, P.C. 2018. Fruiting phenology is linked to rainfall variability in a tropical rainforest. Biotropica 50: 396-404

Razafindratsima, O.H.,  Brown, K.A., Johnson, S.E., Wright, P.C. and Dunham, A.E. 2018. Edge effects on components of diversity and above-ground biomass in a tropical rainforest. Journal of Applied Ecology 55: 977-985

Razafindratsima, O.H. 2017. Post-dispersal predation and removal of seeds by rodents in the rainforest of Ranomafana, Madagascar. Journal of Tropical Ecology 33:232-236

Razafindratsima, O.H. and Dunham, A.E. 2016. Frugivore bias seed-adult tree associations through nonrandom seed dispersal: a phylogenetic approach. Ecology 97:2094-2102

Razafindratsima, O.H. and Dunham A.E. 2015. Assessing the impacts of nonrandom seed dispersal by multiple frugivore partners on plant recruitment. Ecology 96:24-30. 

Razafindratsima, O.H. 2014. Seed dispersal by vertebrates in Madagascar’s forests: review and future directions. Madagascar Conservation and Development 9:90-97.

Martinez B.T. and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2014. Frugivory and seed dispersal patterns by the red-ruffed lemur, Varecia rubra, at a forest restoration site in Masoala National Park, Madagascar. Folia Primatologica 85:228-243.

Razafindratsima, O.H., Jones, TA and Dunham, A.E. 2014. Patterns of movement and seed dispersal by three lemur species. American Journal of Primatology 76:84-96 [Featured cover article].

Dunham, A.E., Maitner, B.S., Razafindratsima, O.H., Simmons, C.M. and Roy, C.L. 2013. Body size and sexual size dimorphism in primates: influence of climate and net productivity. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 26:2312-2320 [Featured cover article].

Razafindratsima, O.H., Mehtani, S., and Dunham, A.E. 2013. Extinctions, traits and phylogenetic community structure: insights from primate assemblages in Madagascar. Ecography 36:47-56.