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Global assessment of primate vulnerability to extreme climatic events

Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages 554–561 (2019)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 10 September 2019

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Abstract

Climate-change-driven alterations in the extent and intensity of extreme weather events may have catastrophic consequences for primate populations. Using a trait-based approach, we assessed the vulnerability of the world’s 607 primate taxa to effects of cyclones and droughts—two types of extreme climatic events that are expected to increase and/or intensify in the future. We found that 16% of primate taxa are vulnerable to cyclones, particularly taxa in Madagascar; 22% are vulnerable to droughts, mainly taxa in the Malaysia Peninsula, North Borneo, Sumatra and tropical moist forests of West Africa. These findings will help with prioritization of primate conservation efforts. They indicate a need for increased efforts to investigate the context-specific mechanisms underpinning primates’ vulnerability to extreme climatic events.

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Fig. 1: Distribution of vulnerable primate taxa and number of taxa in each vulnerability category.
Fig. 2: Distribution and number of primate taxa that are threatened and vulnerable to cyclones and droughts.
Fig. 3: A framework for assessing intrinsic susceptibility of primate taxa under cyclone and drought impacts.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available through the references provided within the article or the supplemental materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the corresponding author.

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  • 10 September 2019

    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology, University of Veracruz, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Lyubing Zhang & Eric I. Ameca

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Lyubing Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Eric I. Ameca

  4. Climate Change Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland

    Eric I. Ameca & Wendy Foden

  5. Institute of Zoology, The Zoological Society of London, London, UK

    Guy Cowlishaw & Nathalie Pettorelli

  6. South African National Parks, Cape Research Centre, Tokai Park, Cape Town, South Africa

    Wendy Foden

  7. Global Change Biology Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa

    Wendy Foden

  8. Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, London, UK

    Georgina M. Mace

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  1. Lyubing Zhang
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Contributions

L.Z. and E.I.A. conceived and designed the study. G.M.M., G.C., N.P. and W.F. contributed in the design of the vulnerability framework proposed by L.Z. and E.I.A. L.Z., E.I.A. and G.C. reviewed and collected data. L.Z. analysed data and all authors contributed greatly to the discussion of results. L.Z. wrote the initial draft of this manuscript and all authors contributed on improvements of the manuscript and agreed the final version to be published.

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Correspondence to Eric I. Ameca.

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Peer review information: Nature Climate Change thanks Amanda Korstjens and other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Tables 1–4 and Supplementary Figures 1–3.

Supplementary Data 1

Scores of the traits used for assessing susceptibility to cyclones and droughts.

Supplementary Data 2

Vulnerability and threatened categories in IUCN Red List of assessed primate taxa.

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Zhang, L., Ameca, E.I., Cowlishaw, G. et al. Global assessment of primate vulnerability to extreme climatic events. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 554–561 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0508-7

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