Argentina lies within the southernmost distributional range of five neotropical primates, the brown howler monkey Alouatta guariba, the black-and-gold howler monkey Alouatta caraya, the black-horned capuchin Sapajus nigritus, the Azara’s capuchin Sapajus cay, and the Azara’s owl monkey Aotus azarae; the first three of which are globally threatened. These species occupy different ecoregions: the Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, the Araucaria moist forest, the humid Chaco, the Southern Cone Mesopotamian savanna, the Paraná Ffooded savanna, and the Southern Andean Yungas. The recently approved National Primate Conservation Plan of Argentina calls for identifying priority areas to focus conservation actions for these species. We used species distribution models to estimate species ranges and then used the Zonation software to perform a spatial conservation prioritization analysis based on primate habitat quality and connectivity to identify potential areas of importance at national and ecoregional levels. Only 7.2% (19,500 km2) of the area inhabited by primates in Argentina is under protection. Outside the current protected areas, the top-ranked 1% and 5% priority areas identified in our analysis covered 1894 and 7574 km2, respectively. The top 1% areas were in the Atlantic forest of Misiones province, where S. nigritus, A. guariba, and A. caraya are distributed, and in the humid portion of eastern Chaco and Formosa provinces, where A. azarae and A. caraya are present. The top 5% areas included portions of the Yungas, where S. cay is the only primate present. Priority areas in Chaco and Formosa provinces are particularly relevant because of the paucity of protected areas and the high deforestation rate. The endangered A. guariba population will benefit from the better protection of the priority areas of Misiones. The potential priority areas proposed herein, considered within a context of a broad participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and local people, will help guide new and innovative conservation policies and practices while supporting management objectives.
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Primate richness and abundance is driven by both forest structure and conservation scenario in Costa Rica
Variation in tropical forest management directly affects biodiversity and provisioning of ecosystem services on a global scale, thus it is necessary to compare forests under different conservation approaches such as protected areas, payments for ecosystem services programs (PES), and ecotourism, as well as forests lacking any formal conservation plan. To examine the effectiveness of specific conservation approaches, we examined differences in forest structure and tree recruitment, including canopy cover; canopy height; seedling, sapling, and adult tree density; and average and total diameter at breast height (DBH) across 78 plots in 18 forests across Costa Rica representing protected areas, private forests utilizing PES and/or ecotourism, and private forests not utilizing these economic incentives. The effectiveness of conservation approaches in providing suitable primate habitat was assessed by conducting broad primate census surveys across a subset of eight forests to determine species richness and group encounter rate of three primate species: mantled howler monkey (
- Award ID(s):
- 1854114
- PAR ID:
- 10517146
- Editor(s):
- Bossart, Janice L
- Publisher / Repository:
- PloS ONE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- PLOS ONE
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1932-6203
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- e0290742
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Conversion of primate forest habitat is a global concern with significant implications for primate populations. Although the geospatial Extent of Occurrence (EOO) data provided for primates by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature are widely used, they do not accurately reflect the existing extent of primate species because of ongoing habitat loss. We focused on four capuchin monkey species (
Sapajus apella ,S. flavius ,S, libidinosus , andS. xanthosternos ), all native to North and Northeastern Brazil, to prioritize research by the Capuchin Action Network. We refined the EOOs for the four primate species using MapBiomas land cover data. We accounted for areas of agriculture, urban, and mining and updated the EOOs of the four species. Additionally, we evaluated the Conservation Units in each EOO. Conservation Units are protected areas critical to mitigating habitat loss in Brazil. Our results show thatS. apella has lost the smallest amount of its EOO (13%), whileS. flavius has lost the most (77%). Agriculture was the leading cause of land cover change, followed by urbanization and mining. We provide an updated EOO for the four capuchin species and highlight the need for conservation efforts to address the challenges posed by human activities in the capuchin species’ habitats. -
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Abstract Milk is inhabited by a community of bacteria and is one of the first postnatal sources of microbial exposure for mammalian young. Bacteria in breast milk may enhance immune development, improve intestinal health, and stimulate the gut‐brain axis for infants. Variation in milk microbiome structure (e.g., operational taxonomic unit [OTU] diversity, community composition) may lead to different infant developmental outcomes. Milk microbiome structure may depend on evolutionary processes acting at the host species level and ecological processes occurring over lactation time, among others. We quantified milk microbiomes using 16S rRNA high‐throughput sequencing for nine primate species and for six primate mothers sampled over lactation. Our data set included humans (
Homo sapiens , Philippines and USA) and eight nonhuman primate species living in captivity (bonobo [Pan paniscus ], chimpanzee [Pan troglodytes ], western lowland gorilla [Gorilla gorilla gorilla ], Bornean orangutan [Pongo pygmaeus ], Sumatran orangutan [Pongo abelii ], rhesus macaque [Macaca mulatta ], owl monkey [Aotus nancymaae ]) and in the wild (mantled howler monkey [Alouatta palliata ]). For a subset of the data, we paired microbiome data with nutrient and hormone assay results to quantify the effect of milk chemistry on milk microbiomes. We detected a core primate milk microbiome of seven bacterial OTUs indicating a robust relationship between these bacteria and primate species. Milk microbiomes differed among primate species with rhesus macaques, humans and mantled howler monkeys having notably distinct milk microbiomes. Gross energy in milk from protein and fat explained some of the variations in microbiome composition among species. Microbiome composition changed in a predictable manner for three primate mothers over lactation time, suggesting that different bacterial communities may be selected for as the infant ages. Our results contribute to understanding ecological and evolutionary relationships between bacteria and primate hosts, which can have applied benefits for humans and endangered primates in our care. -
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Abstract Objectives Ecological similarity between species can lead to interspecific trophic competition. However, when ecologically similar species coexist, they may differ in foraging strategies and habitat use, which can lead to niche partitioning. As the body tissues of consumers contain a stable isotope signature that reflects the isotopic composition of their diet, stable isotope analysis is a useful tool to study feeding behavior. We measured the isotopic niche width, which is a proxy for trophic niche width, of mantled (
Alouatta palliata A. pigra Materials and Methods Between 2008 and 2012, we collected hair samples from 200 subjects (113 black and 87 mantled howler monkeys) and used continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry to estimate
δ 13C andδ 15N. We described the isotopic niche width of each species in allopatry and sympatry with the Bayesian estimation of the standard ellipse areas.Results In allopatry, isotopic niche width and isotopic variation were similar in both species. In sympatry, black howler monkeys had a significantly broader isotopic niche, which was mainly determined by high
δ 15N values, and included the majority of mantled howler monkeys' isotopic niche. The isotopic niche of mantled howler monkeys did not differ between sympatry and allopatry.Conclusions The coexistence of these ecologically similar species may be linked to trophic niche adjustments by one species, although the particular features of such adjustments (e.g., dietary, spatial, or sensory partitioning) remain to be addressed.
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Abstract Negative impacts of discrete, short‐term disturbances to wildlife populations are well‐documented. The consequences of more gradual environmental change are less apparent and harder to study because they play out over longer periods and are often indirect in their action. Yet, they can drive the decline of wildlife populations even in seemingly pristine and currently well‐protected habitats. One such environmental change is a successional shift in a community's species composition as it regenerates from disturbance caused by past human land use. Early and middle successional tree species often provide key foods to folivores and frugivores, but the abundance of these resources drops as the forest matures, with adverse repercussions for these consumers. Our 44‐year record (1974–2018) of howler monkey (
Alouatta palliata ) group sizes and demographic composition from Barro Colorado Island, Panama, a protected reserve, documents an example of this phenomenon. After 70 years of relative stability, the mean size of howler monkey groups exhibited a marked decline, beginning in 2003. This downward trajectory in group size has continued through the most recent census in 2018. The composition of howler groups also changed significantly during the study period, with the patterns of decline differing among age/sex classes. There is no evidence that these changes were caused by increased rates of emigration, group fission, predation, parasitism, or disease. Rather, they are best explained by an island‐wide, succession‐driven decline in the densities of two species of free‐standing fig trees,Ficus yoponensis andF. insipida , which together were providing ~36% ofBCI howlers’ annual diet.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290742
