Ankaizina wetlands (6540)
Madagascar, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2014

National site name: Zone humide d'Ankaizina

Central coordinates: Latitude: -14.5000, Longitude: 48.7333

System: freshwater, terrestrial

Elevation (m): 1000 to 1000

Area of KBA (km²): 105.61412

Protected area coverage (%): 0.83

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: The Ankaizina wetlands lie 5–10 km north of Bealanana and consists of Lakes Anakarefo, Beandrarazina and Matsaboramadio, Nanilezana marsh, and two other unnamed lakes. The area lies in an alluvial basin, ringed by hills of gneiss, granite, basalt and trachyte. The lakes are shallow and often turbid. The wetland complex is fed from the west by the Maevarano river and from the east by the Sofia and the Manampatrana. The water surface is partly covered by non-native water-hyacinth Eichhornia, and bordered in places by stands of sedge Cyperus, Raphia palms and grasses.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)

Additional biodiversity: See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Ardea humbloti is a species normally associated with the West Malagasy biome.

Habitats

Land use: fisheries/aquaculture

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: Intense soil erosion, caused by bush-fires, affects the surrounding deforested hills, and is infilling the wetlands and lowering their effective water-level. Local hunting and fishing may be having an impact on the ecology of the lakes.

Additional information