Assessing the state of knowledge of contemporary climate change and primates

Abstract

In recent years, interest in understanding the effects of climate change on species and ecological systems has sharply increased. We quantify and contextualize the current state of knowledge about the effects of contemporary climate change on non‐human primates, a taxon of great ecological and anthropological significance. Specifically, we report findings from a systematic literature search designed to assess the allocation of research effort on primates and climate change and consider how the current distribution of knowledge may be influencing our understanding of the topic. We reveal significant phylogenetic and geographic gaps in our knowledge, which is strongly biased towards lemurs, apes, and a relatively small subset of primate range countries. We show that few analyses investigate changes in primate foods relative to changes in primates themselves or their habitats, and observe that few longitudinal datasets are of sufficient duration to detect effects on the generational scale. We end by identifying areas of research inquiry that would advance our theoretical understanding of primate ecology, evolution, and adaptability, and meaningfully contribute to primate conservation.

Climate change effects on the distribution of yellow‐breasted capuchin monkey (Sapajus xanthosternos (Wied‐Neuwied, 1826))

“…This easternmost region is a hotspot of primate vulnerability to climate change (Graham et al, 2016). Primates, as tropical species, are adapted to a relatively narrow range of temperatures (Bernard & Marshall, 2020; Tewksbury et al, 2008), being sensitive to even small temperature changes (Hilário et al, 2022). In addition, local climate regulates the physiological (Blanco et al, 2013) and behavioral (Hilário et al, 2022; Strier et al, 1999) characteristics of monkeys.…”

“…Rates of climate change may be greater than those of climatic niche evolution in primates (Meyer & Pie, 2022). The ability of primates quickly to adapt to climate change is limited by their long generation times and slow reproductive rates (Bernard & Marshall, 2020). Evidence of climate change effects on mammals is scarce and reveals changes in phenology, body weight, and litter size, most probably due to plasticity (Boutin & Lane, 2014).…”

Plant secondary metabolites and primate food choices: A meta‐analysis and future directions

“…A more rigorous approach to incorporating PSMs into studies of primate feeding ecology is critical in predicting how animals will respond to global warming and other environmental change (Bernard & Marshall, 2020; Stalenberg, 2019). Over the past decade, researchers have developed species‐specific mechanistic models to predict the response of species to climate change (M. Kearney & Porter, 2009; M. R. Kearney et al, 2010).…”

Primate conservation: Lessons learned in the last 20 years can guide future efforts

“…Understanding the cascading consequences of climate change is one of the most important questions that conservation scientists must address in the next decade. Unfortunately, our abilities to predict primate responses to climate change are very poor and there remains many data gaps 66 . There are, however, estimates of what will happen to tropical forests.…”