Poliana Gabriele Alves de Souza Lins, Carlos A Peres, Jerry Penha
{"title":"A simple suitability index to guide site selection for primate translocations: an example from northeastern Brazil.","authors":"Poliana Gabriele Alves de Souza Lins, Carlos A Peres, Jerry Penha","doi":"10.1007/s10329-025-01210-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Establishing clear, rationales for conservation actions is critical to optimizing the chances of rescuing threatened species worldwide. We propose a simple habitat suitability index, a trade-off between occupancy probability and extinction risk, to guide conservation actions for the blond capuchin monkey (Sapajus flavius), whose distribution spans the contrasting but adjacent Atlantic Forest and Caatinga phytogeographic domains of northeastern Brazil. Our objective was to create a map to spatially coordinated management options considering both domains under two divergent but plausible scenarios assuming contrasting conservation outcomes: (1) active conservation efforts, in which government agencies/communities agree to invest and participate in conservation actions; and (2) no intervention and no additional effort. Based on the habitat suitability index, sites were classified into three types: A (protected and suitable, n = 3); B (suitable but under high extinction risk, n = 9); and C (unsuitable and highly defaunated, n = 75). Our results show that under Scenario 1 it would be possible to fund an active taskforce to improve forest quality in habitat remnant types B and C while supporting monitoring and protection of type-A sites. However, little can be done under Scenario 2 without successful educational programs to raise awareness and change the perception of local stakeholders. This study introduces a spatial index to prioritise conservation actions at key sites, providing a practical approach to effective resource management in a changing environment. Our protocol may be useful in guiding conservation action in the face of resource constraints and rapid environmental and climatic change in increasingly threatened biodiversity hotspots.</p>","PeriodicalId":20468,"journal":{"name":"Primates","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Primates","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-025-01210-7","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Establishing clear, rationales for conservation actions is critical to optimizing the chances of rescuing threatened species worldwide. We propose a simple habitat suitability index, a trade-off between occupancy probability and extinction risk, to guide conservation actions for the blond capuchin monkey (Sapajus flavius), whose distribution spans the contrasting but adjacent Atlantic Forest and Caatinga phytogeographic domains of northeastern Brazil. Our objective was to create a map to spatially coordinated management options considering both domains under two divergent but plausible scenarios assuming contrasting conservation outcomes: (1) active conservation efforts, in which government agencies/communities agree to invest and participate in conservation actions; and (2) no intervention and no additional effort. Based on the habitat suitability index, sites were classified into three types: A (protected and suitable, n = 3); B (suitable but under high extinction risk, n = 9); and C (unsuitable and highly defaunated, n = 75). Our results show that under Scenario 1 it would be possible to fund an active taskforce to improve forest quality in habitat remnant types B and C while supporting monitoring and protection of type-A sites. However, little can be done under Scenario 2 without successful educational programs to raise awareness and change the perception of local stakeholders. This study introduces a spatial index to prioritise conservation actions at key sites, providing a practical approach to effective resource management in a changing environment. Our protocol may be useful in guiding conservation action in the face of resource constraints and rapid environmental and climatic change in increasingly threatened biodiversity hotspots.
期刊介绍:
Primates is an international journal of primatology whose aim is to provide a forum for the elucidation of all aspects of primates. The oldest primatological journal, Primates publishes original papers that advance the scientific study of primates, and its scope embraces work in diverse fields covering biological bases of behavior, socio-ecology, learning and cognition, social processes, systematics, evolution, and medicine. Contributions relevant to conservation of natural populations and welfare of captive primates are welcome. Studies focusing on nonprimate species may be considered if their relevance to primatology is clear. Original Articles as well as Review Articles, News and Perspectives, and Book Reviews are included. All manuscripts received are initially screened for suitability by members of the Editorial Board, taking into account style and ethical issues, leading to a swift decision about whether to send the manuscript for external review.