Primate Conservation in the Tropics
We’ve published a Virtual Issue on Primate Conservation, in which we have collated some exceptional papers on this topic from the pages of prior issues. Primates are the most charismatic and among the most threatened of mammals, and are declining due to habitat loss, land use intensification and hunting. Apart from the concern for their conservation, it is also possible that ecological processes mediated by them, principally seed dispersal, could have knock-on effects on plant populations and forest composition. But are primates as vulnerable to forest disturbance as is often supposed? This Virtual Issue indicates that primates are somewhat adaptable and able to persist in degraded or fragmented forests, often by diversifying their food sources. Good news for primate conservation perhaps, but there is much to learn to improve land management for the benefit of primate populations.
Thanks to kansasphoto for the picture of Cebus capucinus.