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

Raoelinjanakolona, N.N., Ramananjato, V., Andrianarimisa, A., Andrianiaina, A.F., A, Nantenaina, R.H., and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2023. Fragile plant-frugivore interaction networks in tropical forest edges. Biological Conservation 277: 109822

Ramananjato, V., Randimbiarison, F., Rabarijaonina, T. and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2022. Arboreal mouse lemurs discovered sleeping in a burrow on the ground. Ecology and Evolution 10.1002/ece3.9543

Tonos, J.M., Razafindratsima, O.H., Fenosoa, Z.E., and Dunham, A.E. (2022) Individual networks reveal the influence of space, plant traits, and plant neighborhoods in plant-frugivore interactions. Oikos 2:e08539

Razafindratsima, O.H., Raoelinjanakolona, N.N., Heriniaina, R.R., Nantenaina, R.H., Ratolojanahary, T.H., and Dunham, A.E. 2021. Simplified communities of seed-dispersers limit the composition and flow of seeds in edge habitat. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9:655441

Razafindratsima, O.H., Kamoto, J., Sills, E.O., Mutta, D., Song, C., Kabwe, G., Castle, S., Kristjanson, P.M., Ryan, C., Brockhaus, M. and Sunderland, T. 2021. Reviewing the evidence on the roles of forests and tree-based systems in poverty dynamics. Forest Policy and Economics 131: 102576

Ramananjato, V. and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2021. Structure of microhabitats used by Microcebus rufus across a heterogeneous landscape. International Journal of Primatology 42:682-700.

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 22: 2845–2858

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

Park, D.S. and Razafindratsima, O.H. 2019. Anthropogenic threats can have cascading homogenizing effects on the phylogenetic and functional diversity of tropical forests. 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

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. and Dunham, A.E. 2016. Frugivore bias seed-adult tree associations through nonrandom seed dispersal: a phylogenetic approach. Ecology 97:2094-2102 [Featured cover article]

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.