Niche-separation and conservation biogeography of Madagascar’s fork-marked lemurs (Cheirogaleidae: Phaner): Evidence of a new cryptic species?

Hending, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01738

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…The quantification of the realized niche of a species [1] (sensu Grinnell [2][3][4][5], hereafter niche) and how it varies across space and time has received increasing attention in ecological Birds 2022, 3 150 studies, with important implications in evolution, biogeography, and conservation [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Many studies have focused on niche evolution in related taxa [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], or on niche quantification of alien species to assess their potential as invaders in non-native ranges [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, niche quantification and change in avian species remain poorly investigated aspects, especially if compared to other research topics (e.g., population trend assessment).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Evidence on the Linkage of Population Trends and Species Traits to Long-Term Niche Changes

Tirozzi

Orioli

Dondina

et al. 2022

Birds

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Despite the assessment of long-term niche dynamics could provide crucial information for investigating species responses to environmental changes, it is a poorly investigated topic in ecology. Here, we present a case study of multi-species niche analysis for 71 common breeding birds in Northern Italy, exploring long-term niche changes from 1992 to 2017 and their relationship with both population trends and species traits. We (i) quantified the realized Grinnellian niche in the environmental space, (ii) compared variations in niche breadth and centroid, (iii) tested niche divergence and conservatism through equivalency and similarity tests, (iv) calculated niche temporal overlap, expansion and unfilling indices, and (v) investigated their association with both population changes and species traits. Results supported niche divergence (equivalency test) for 32% of species, although two-thirds were not supported by the similarity test. We detected a general tendency to adjust the niche centroids towards warmer thermal conditions. Increasing populations were positively correlated with niche expansion, while negatively correlated with niche overlap, albeit at the limit of the significance threshold. We found moderate evidence for a non-random association between niche changes and species traits, especially for body size, clutch size, number of broods per year, inhabited landscape type, and migration strategy. We encourage studies correlating long-term population trends and niche changes with species traits’ information and a specific focus on cause-effect relationship at both the single and multiple-species level.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Evidence on the Linkage of Population Trends and Species Traits to Long-Term Niche Changes

Tirozzi

Orioli

Dondina

et al. 2022

Birds

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“…F I G U R E 1 Approximate occurrence of each of Madagascar's four main forest types; figure is a modified and simplified version of forest distributions and bioclimatic zonation following Cornet (1974), Schatz (2000), Boumans et al (2007), and Vieilledent et al (2016) Multicollinearity is often a problem among independent variables included as bioclimatic layers in models (O'Brien, 2007), and it is therefore recommended to remove highly correlated variables (Merow et al, 2013). To overcome this issue, we generated 2000 random GPS points for Madagascar in R Studio and we extracted the corresponding raster values for each layer at each point (as in Hending, 2021a). We then conducted pairwise Pearson's correlation tests between each of the variables using data from the 2000 points and the R package "Hmisc" (Harrell, 2020); the data met the normality and linearity assumptions of the Pearson analyses (Appendix S2: Table S1).…”

Section: Climatic and Environmental Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of future climate change on the forests of Madagascar

Hending

Holderied

McCabe³

et al. 2022

Ecosphere

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Global climate change is continuing to occur at an alarming rate. In addition to increases in global weather extremes, melting of polar ice caps, and subsequent sea level rises, climate change is known to directly impact the life cycles and ecologies of many animals and plants. While climate change is projected to result in substantial geographic range and habitat contractions for many species in future, the effects of climate change on many habitats of conservation concern remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how future climate change is projected to impact the occurrence and distribution of four major forest types of Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot and conservation priority, over the next 60 years. We also compared how climate change effects vary among the four forest types under a "mitigation" climate forecast and under a "business-as-usual" trajectory. As expected, our models suggest that future climate change will affect the distribution of the four forest types under both trajectories, and forest occurrence is likely to decrease if mean temperatures, temperature seasonality, and precipitation rates increase as predicted. The exception is that forest gain is predicted to occur in the northwest of Madagascar, resulting in a small increase in transitional forest area under the "business-as-usual" climate change trajectory. Our study highlights that unmitigated climate change will have a negative impact on Madagascar's forests during the period up to the year 2080, and climate change therefore needs to be mitigated. Madagascar remains a global conservation priority, and urgent conservation action and protective legislation are required to safeguard the future of its native forest.

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“…In the field of primatology, ENMs are very useful to study small‐bodied, nocturnal strepsirrhines, like lemurs of the family Cheirogaleidae, galagos (Galagidae), and the members of the family Lorisidae (lorises, pottos, and angwantibos; Hending, 2021b; Kamilar et al, 2016; Thorn et al, 2009). Many new taxa have been described from these cryptic primate clades in the last 20 years (e.g., Butynski et al, 2006; Munds et al, 2013; Schüßler, Blanco et al, 2020; but see Tattersall, 2007), of which most are hypothesized to have small and highly restricted geographic ranges, and are thus considered highly threatened with extinction (Nijman et al, 2020; Schwitzer et al, 2013, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat and ecological niche characteristics of the elusive Hairy‐eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus trichotis) with updated occurrence and geographic range data

Schüßler

Rabemananjara

Radriarimanga

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is particularly useful in the study of cryptic and elusive species that are only rarely seen, difficult to study in the wild, and simultaneously threatened by a multitude of anthropogenic factors. We collected presence records one such example, the understudied Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus trichotis), from the literature and supplemented these with observations from surveys in previously unstudied areas to model its fundamental and realized niche throughout Madagascar.We further evaluated habitat characteristics at each sighting location to judge its conservation status and its adaptability toward habitat degradation. We found 31 presence localities in the literature and directly observed A. trichotis a further 23 times.According to the ENMs, precipitation of the driest quarter and maximum temperature of the warmest month mostly influenced its distribution, restricting it to the higher altitudes of the northeastern humid forests of Madagascar. Its fundamental niche, extent of occurrence, and area of occupancy were estimated as 65,819, 53,054, and 16,967 km² respectively. The latter, however, declined by 29.2% since 1990. On a habitat level, it was most often observed in primary forest habitats of different degradation stages (85.7%, n = 21). The fundamental niche of A. trichotis is most likely restricted by climatic factors. Although it can be found in moderately degraded forests, it is known to depend on the availability of tree holes and therefore old-growth forest structures. Ongoing deforestation and habitat fragmentation are likely to be the major threats to the survival of this species. Our ENMs provide evidence on where to intensify survey efforts on the elusive Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemurs of Madagascar.

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Niche-separation and conservation biogeography of Madagascar’s fork-marked lemurs (Cheirogaleidae: Phaner): Evidence of a new cryptic species?

Cited by 11 publications

References 92 publications

New Evidence on the Linkage of Population Trends and Species Traits to Long-Term Niche Changes

New Evidence on the Linkage of Population Trends and Species Traits to Long-Term Niche Changes

Effects of future climate change on the forests of Madagascar

Habitat and ecological niche characteristics of the elusive Hairy‐eared Dwarf Lemur (Allocebus trichotis) with updated occurrence and geographic range data

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