Predicting potential distribution and identifying priority areas for conservation of the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) in Peru

Expanded distribution and predicted suitable habitat for the critically endangered yellow‐tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda) in Perú

“…Both of our models showed a strong negative correlation between L. flavicauda presence and precipitation seasonality, consistent with the results of a study by S. Shanee (2016) in the northern distribution of the species and somewhat corroborating findings by Guzman et al (2022), who found this variable to be third most important. The tendency to be found in areas with little variation in average rainfall is likely linked to the reliance of L. flavicauda on resources that are available year‐round.…”

“…The amount of protected habitat shown here is higher than that of a gap analysis performed in 2009 (Buckingham & Shanee, 2009), likely due to recent increases in community PAs in the northernmost regions of the L. flavicauda range (N. Shanee, Shanee, et al, 2017; S. Shanee & Shanee, 2009; S. Shanee et al, 2020). It is also slightly higher than the results of that found by Guzman et al (2022), though their study did not incorporate conservation concessions in their analysis. Perú has 18.8% of its land covered by the current PA network, with 91.7% of PA area being governmental and 8.3% being private or communal (S. Shanee et al, 2020).…”

“…Our use of free, open‐source modeling platforms will make updating and refining this analysis relatively simple with the addition of novel presence data. These SDMs build off of a recently published study by Guzman et al (2022), which used a wide breadth of environmental variables to create an SDM and find suitable habitat for the species, overlaying that habitat with the current national PAs to find what the authors refer to as “high potential habitat areas” for conservation. While these authors found a similar amount of unprotected suitable habitat and the variables of most importance for species presence corroborate our results, they use only the one initial locality in Junín, restricting most of their suitable habitat and interpretation of their results to the northern portion of the species' distribution.…”

“…The presence of drug traffickers and armed groups limited which sites we could visit, particularly in the area of Vizcatán in southern Junín, thus this area remains un‐surveyed, a situation which needs to be urgently rectified once conditions allow. In contrast to the model created by Guzman et al (2022), our study focuses on the central and southern areas of the L. flavicauda distribution with the inclusion of our survey points, resulting in more suitable habitat revealed in these areas. As this illustrates, further successful surveys will increase the number of presence and absence points for the species, allow for more accurate analyses of their environmental needs, and encourage the initiation of conservation efforts in these areas to continue the growth of both state and private/community led efforts for L. flavicauda .…”

“…The newly‐recorded expansion of the distribution of L. flavicauda has important implications for the conservation needs of the species, which is often used as a flagship species in areas where it is present (S. Shanee et al, 2018). Previous studies suggest that the protected area (PA) network in northern Perú is insufficient to protect L. flavicauda from the consequences of human population growth, habitat degradation, and climate change (Buckingham & Shanee, 2009; Guzman et al, 2022; S. Shanee, 2016). As the number of PAs in Perú changes, along with our knowledge of primate species' distributions, it is critical to reassess PA networks' coverage with current data.…”