Spatial Response to Linear Infrastructures by the Endangered Golden Lion Tamarin

Abstract

Linear infrastructures are a primary driver of economic development. However, they also can negatively affect wildlife by mortality and the barrier effect. In this paper, we address how paved and unpaved roads, high-tension power lines, and gas/oil pipelines affect home range size, core areas, and movement in an endangered primate, the golden lion tamarin (GLT). Location data were recorded using radio telemetry on 16 groups in two protected areas and in privately owned forest fragments. The GLT’s home range, not core area, increased in size for the groups that occupied locations far from linear infrastructures; home range was also significantly influenced by available forest size. None of the home ranges contained a road, but home ranges did contain power lines. GLTs used the surrounding landscape near all types of infrastructure. Movement analysis showed that most of the step lengths (distances between subsequent locations) were less than 100 m between two consecutive locations, but step length was longer for roads and longer for groups in fully forested habitats. Tamarins avoided paved roads when in close proximity to this type of infrastructure; this behavior increased in areas without adequate adjacent forest habitat. Our results show that linear infrastructures differ in their level of impact: roads can act as a barrier, whereas other types of infrastructure have minimal effect on movement and home range. We discuss these differences in impact in terms of structure, maintenance schedules, and edge effects of infrastructure.

Yellow fever in Brazil threatens successful recovery of endangered golden lion tamarins

“…Some mosquitoes transmit the virus to their eggs 31 , thereby maintaining the virus in the absence of primates. Although GLTs typically do not cross areas of non-forest 32 , mosquito vectors of yellow fever can disperse several kilometers over non-forest terrain 33 . Increased travel of people to and through forests near urban areas in southeastern Brazil increases the risk of humans contracting yellow fever from infected mosquitoes and/or spreading the disease to non-human primates in peri-urban forests 34 .…”