Conservation efforts for Brazilian primates under threat from climate change and habitat loss
Brazilian primates face escalating threats as climate change and deforestation combine to erode their habitats.
A recent study highlights how these twin pressures are driving significant losses in suitable habitats for endangered primates, with devastating implications for their survival.
Primates are particularly vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and loss due to their reliance on forest ecosystems. Protected Areas (PAs) serve as vital refuges for these species, especially endemic primates with limited geographic ranges. Researchers have now examined the extent to which PAs can mitigate habitat loss under various climate scenarios spanning the present to 2080.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, analyzed the geographic distribution of 35 endangered primate species using species distribution models. Baseline data were compared with projections for four future climate scenarios, ranging from optimistic to pessimistic. The results paint a stark picture: most species could see a loss of more than 90% of their suitable habitats under all scenarios, with some Amazonian species projected to lose over 98% of their current range.
PAs currently play a limited role in protecting these primates. Under baseline conditions, only 8.6% of PAs were found to support more primate species than expected by chance, and this capacity diminishes in future scenarios. While PAs harbor between one and six species today, their effectiveness will likely shrink as climate change intensifies, leaving already threatened taxa with even fewer options for survival.
Amazonian primates, in particular, face alarming habitat declines. These species, often confined to specific regions, are among the most at risk. Without increased conservation measures, the cascading effects of climate change and deforestation will push them closer to extinction.
The findings underscore a critical need for expanding and strengthening the PA network to ensure long-term population viability. “Given the restricted geographic distribution and current population decline for most taxa, we emphasize the need to increase the number of PAs to ensure population viability and prevent future extinction,” the researchers emphasize.
This study highlights the urgency of coordinated conservation strategies that address not only habitat preservation but also broader environmental policies. In the absence of swift action, Brazil’s primate diversity – a cornerstone of its ecological heritage – may become an irretrievable loss.
Journal Reference:
Gomes, L.B., Gonçalves, G.R., Velazco, S.J.E. et al. ‘Conservation challenges for Brazilian primates and the role of protected areas in a changing climate’, Scientific Reports 14, 31356 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-82717-9
Source: Scientific Reports
Glacial cooling reduces tropical Pacific upper ocean zonal gradients
National Taiwan University – A research team led by National Taiwan University used geochemical indicators from deep-sea sediments to reconstruct the upper ocean zonal gradients in the tropical Pacific during the last glacial period, providing valuable constraints for future climate projections.
Their findings are published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
The tropical Pacific Ocean plays an important role in the global climate system. El Niño events wreak havoc worldwide by causing extreme weather and droughts. To better prepare for future changes in this region, it is crucial that climate models can accurately simulate changes in the mean state of the tropical Pacific. Unfortunately, most state-of-the-art climate models fail to reproduce the observed warming pattern of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific over the last century.
To further evaluate the performance of these models under different atmospheric CO2 levels, postdoctoral researcher Alicia Hou (currently at University of Bordeaux) and Associate Professor Sze Ling Ho from the Institute of Oceanography National Taiwan University, along with their collaborators from the University of Bremen and Queen Mary University of London, collated paleotemperature estimates from past climates characterized by contrasting atmospheric CO2 levels for comparison with model simulations (see fig.). These paleotemperature estimates are inferred from geochemical indicators analyzed on microfossils extracted from deep-sea sediments, which are also known as paleoclimate proxies.
Before performing proxy-model comparison, the team first used Argo data to ensure that several temperature indices commonly used in paleoclimate reconstruction can indeed capture changes in the upper ocean thermal conditions of the tropical Pacific during El Niño and La Niña events.
They then generated a multi-model ensemble using simulations from seven state-of-the-art models based in institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia, under the auspices of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP).
The proxy-model comparison results indicate that, similar to the warming observed over the last century, these models were unable to reproduce the tropical Pacific cooling pattern when atmospheric CO2 levels were about half of today’s levels. The discrepancies between proxies and models may stem from the fact that the models overestimate sea surface temperature changes in the eastern tropical Pacific.
The proxy results also suggest that the western Pacific may warm more than the eastern Pacific if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated in the future. In summary, this study demonstrates the usefulness of paleoclimate proxies in improving climate models and informing future climate projections.
Journal Reference:
Hou, A., Jonkers, L., Ford, H.L. et al. ‘El Niño-like tropical Pacific Ocean cooling pattern during the last glacial maximum’, Communications Earth & Environment 5, 587 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01740-w
Source: National Taiwan University
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Contributions of climatic factors and vegetation cover to the temporal shift in Asian dust events
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C. Qin, B. Yang, A. Bräuning, F. Charpentier Ljungqvist, T.J. Osborn, V. Shishov, M. He, S. Kang, L. Schneider, J. Esper, U. Büntgen, J. Grießinger, D. Huang, P. Zhang, S. Talento, E. Xoplaki, J. Luterbacher, N.C. Stenseth (2025) | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2415294121
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Peters H, Ralph GM, Rogers-Bennett L (2024) | PLoS ONE | DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309384
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Featured image credit: kjpargeter | Freepik
