Primate Ecology and Conservation: A Handbook of Techniques, Eleanor Sterling, Nora Bynum, Mary Blair (Eds.). Oxford University Press (2013). 425 pp., Paperback $63.00, ISBN: 978019965945-6 (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Primatology, 2022
Works, and What Doesn't Work? The Challenges of Creating Effective Applied Conservation Research in Human-Modified Habitats" organized at the joint European Federation of Primatology/Primate Society of Great Britain conference in Oxford on 8-11 September 2019. We also thank all the contributors to this special issue who joined the project after the symposium. Finally, we are grateful to Jo Setchell, Editor in Chief of International Journal of Primatology, for giving us the opportunity to publish this volume.
Evidence-Based Synopsis of Interventions, a New Tool in Primate Conservation and Research
Biodiversity conservation is often described as a crisis discipline, with conservationists rushing from one emergency to the next. This frequently leaves limited resources available to evaluate the effectiveness of the conservation interventions that have been implemented. Furthermore, for those seeking out scientific evidence for conservation decisions, much is locked behind subscription-only access or hidden in jargon-heavy literature. Assessing the effectiveness of conservation interventions, and making the results readily available to practitioners, could transform conservation efforts.
International Journal of Primatology, 2016
S. (2017) 'Biosocial conservation : integrating biological and ethnographic methods to study human-primate interactions.', International journal of primatology., 38 (2). pp. 401-426. 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Additional information:
Primate conservation: Lessons learned in the last 20 years can guide future efforts
Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 2021
Twenty years ago, we published an assessment of the threats facing primates and with the passing of two decades, we re‐evaluate identified threats, consider emerging pressures, identify exciting new avenues of research, and tackle how to change the system to rapidly advance primate and primate habitat conservation. Habitat destruction and hunting have increased, the danger of looming climate change is clearer, and there are emerging threats such as the sublethal effects of microplastics and pesticides. Despite these negative developments, protected areas are increasing, exciting new tools are now available, and the number of studies has grown exponentially. Many of the changes that need to occur to make rapid progress in primate conservation are in our purview to modify. We identify several dimensions indicating the time is right to make large advances; however, the question that remains is do we have the will to prevent widespread primate annihilation and extinction?
Reconciling Rigor and Range: Observations, Experiments, and Quasi-experiments in Field Primatology
International Journal of Primatology, 2012
I summarize here my experiences studying biological mechanisms of primate behavior across more than 3 decades of observing behaviors and performing ecological field experiments on a wild primate population. I begin with a general overview of the purpose of controlling variation in predictor variables, then describe how observational and experimental studies control such variation. After a description of the practical problems of using observational data to infer mechanisms or causes of a particular behavior, I describe the success and challenges of conducting ecological field experiments on animals, including some examples of (my own) failed experiments. Finally, I propose a middle ground between observations and experiments, what I term quasi-experiments. Quasi-experiments use systematic observation of predictor variables to measure their effects on the occurrence of a behavior, rather than measuring the values of the predictor variables only when the behavior occurs. Regardless of the study methodology, the use of general linear mixed models (GLMMs) for statistical analysis permits stronger inference about the effects of predictor variables than is provided by older statistical methods. GLMMs allow researchers to disentangle from the error term the variation that is due to consistent differences between focal animals, groups, years, food species, or other uncontrolled but repeatedly sampled categorical variables that affect our observations. Reducing the error term then allows more powerful inferential tests of the effects of the hypothesized causal variables. All field studies will benefit from a better quantitative theoretical framework within which to interpret the match between expected and observed outcomes.
The conservation value of human-modified landscapes for the world’s primates
Nature Communications, 2019
Land-use change pushes biodiversity into human-modified landscapes, where native ecosystems are surrounded by anthropic land covers (ALCs). Yet, the ability of species to use these emerging covers remains poorly understood. We quantified the use of ALCs by primates worldwide, and analyzed species' attributes that predict such use. Most species use secondary forests and tree plantations, while only few use human settlements. ALCs are used for foraging by at least 86 species with an important conservation outcome: those that tolerate heavily modified ALCs are 26% more likely to have stable or increasing populations than the global average for all primates. There is no phylogenetic signal in ALCs use. Compared to all primates on Earth, species using ALCs are less often threatened with extinction, but more often diurnal, medium or large-bodied, not strictly arboreal, and habitat generalists. These findings provide valuable quantitative information for improving management practices for primate conservation worldwide.
Environmental enrichment for mammals in captivity focusing primarily on primates
The Plymouth Student Scientist, 2009
In the wild animals must learn to survive by adapting to live in complex and challenging environments (Boere, 2001). Institutions that hold animals in captivity, such as zoos, safari parks or research facilities, result in the absence of major environmental factors that encourage and preserve species-typical behaviour in the wild (Markowitz, 1995). These factors include such behaviours as foraging, finding shelter, intraspecific relationships and anti predator behaviour (Boere, 2001). It is of utmost importance that these institutions promote these behaviours for two reasons. Firstly, if eventual reintroduction of the individual into its natural habitat is the aim, then an animal that exhibits species-specific behaviours is more likely to survive in the wild. Secondly, many institutions make it their aim to provide educational resources for people to learn about specific species. For this to happen, the animals need to exhibit similar behaviours to their wild counterparts (Young, 19...
Primates in 21st century ecosystems: does primate conservation promote ecosystem conservation?
American Journal of Primatology, 2010
Contributors to this issue of the American Journal of Primatology were among the participants in an invited symposium at the 2008 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation meeting in Paramaribo, Suriname. They were asked to assess how essential primates are to tropical ecosystems and, given their research interests, discuss how primate research contributes to the broader understanding about how ecosystems function. This introduction to the issue is divided into three parts: a review of the roles that nonhuman primates play in tropical ecosystems; the implementation of large‐scale landscape methods used to identify primate densities; and concerns about the increasingly porous boundaries between humans, nonhuman primates, and pathogens. Although 20th century primate research created a rich database on individual species, including both theoretical and descriptive approaches, the dual effects of high human population densities and widespread habitat destruction should warn us t...