Leonardo C. Oliveira

Agroecosystems and primate conservation in the tropics: a review.

Agroecosystems cover more than one quarter of the global land area (ca. 50 million km2) as highly simplified (e.g. pasturelands) or more complex systems (e.g. polycultures and agroforestry systems) with the capacity to support higher biodiversity. Increasingly more information has been published about primates in agroecosystems but a general synthesis of the diversity of agroecosystems that primates use or which primate taxa are able to persist in these anthropogenic components of the landscapes is still lacking. Because of the continued extensive transformation of primate habitat into human‐modified landscapes, it is important to explore the extent to which agroecosystems are used by primates. In this article, we reviewed published information on the use of agroecosystems by primates in habitat countries and also discuss the potential costs and benefits to human and nonhuman primates of primate use of agroecosystems. The review showed that 57 primate taxa from four regions: Mesoamerica, South America, Sub‐Saharan Africa (including Madagascar), and South East Asia, used 38 types of agroecosystems as temporary or permanent habitats. Fifty‐one percent of the taxa recorded in agroecosystems were classified as least concern in the IUCN Red List, but the rest were classified as endangered (20%), vulnerable (18%), near threatened (9%), or critically endangered (2%). The large proportion of threatened primates in agroecosystems suggests that agroecosystems may play an important role in landscape approaches to primate conservation. We conclude by discussing the value of agroecosystems for primate conservation at a broad scale and highlight priorities for future research. Am. J. Primatol. 74:696‐711, 2012.

Conservation in tropical landscape mosaics: the case of the cacao landscape of southern Bahia, Brazil

A recent debate has contrasted two conservation strategies in agricultural landscapes; either “land sparing” farm development combining intensive production practices with forest set-asides, or “wildlife-friendly” farming with greater on-farm habitat value but lower yields. We argue that in established mosaic landscapes including old cacao production regions where natural forest has already been reduced to relatively small fragments, a combination of both strategies is needed to conserve biodiversity. After reviewing the evidence for the insufficiency of either strategy alone if applied to such landscapes, the paper focuses on the cacao production landscape of southern Bahia, Brazil, once the world’s second largest cacao producer. Here, small remaining areas of Atlantic Forest are embedded in a matrix dominated by traditional cacao agroforests, resulting in a landscape mosaic that has proven favorable to the conservation of the region’s high biodiversity. We show that current land use dynamics and public policies pose threats but also offer opportunities to conservation and describe a three-pronged landscape conservation strategy, consisting of (i) expansion of the protected areas system, (ii) promotion of productive yet biodiversity-friendly cacao farming practices, and (iii) assistance to land users to implement legally mandated on-farm reserves and voluntary private reserves. We discuss recent experiences concerning the implementation of this strategy, discuss likely future scenarios, and reflect on the applicability of the Bahian experience to biodiversity rich cacao production regions elsewhere in the tropics.

Abundance of Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) Affects Group Characteristics and Use of Space by Golden-Headed Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) in Cabruca Agroforest

Cabruca is an agroforest of cacao trees shaded by native forest trees. It is the predominant vegetation type throughout eastern part of the range of the golden-headed lion tamarins, Leontopithecus chrysomelas, an endangered primate endemic to Atlantic Forest. Understanding how lion tamarins use this agroforest is a conservation priority. To address this question, we documented the diet, home range size, group sizes and composition, density, number of litters and body condition of lion tamarins living in cabruca, and other habitats. Jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus, was the most used species used by lion tamarins in cabruca and was widely available and used throughout the year. In cabruca, home range size was the smallest (22–28xa0ha) and density of lion tamarins was the highest (1.7xa0ind/ha) reported for the species. Group size averaged 7.4 individuals and was not significantly different among the vegetation types. In cabruca, groups produced one or two litters a year, and all litters were twins. Adult males in cabruca were significantly heavier than males in primary forest. Our study is the first to demonstrate that breeding groups of golden-headed lion tamarins can survive and reproduce entirely within cabruca agroforest. Jackfruit proved to be a keystone resource for lion tamarins in cabruca, and bromeliads were important as an animal prey foraging microhabitat. In cases where cabruca contains concentrated resources, such as jackfruit and bromeliads, lion tamarins may not only survive and reproduce but may fare better than in other forest types, at least for body condition and reproduction.

Predation risk and the interspecific association of two Brazilian Atlantic forest primates in Cabruca agroforest.

Forming interspecific associations is one of many strategies adopted by primates in order to avoid predation. In addition to improved predator detection and avoidance, benefits of interspecific associations relate to improved foraging efficiency. In this study we tested these two hypotheses explaining associations between the endangered golden‐headed lion tamarin, Leontopithecus chrysomelas and the sympatric Wieds marmoset, Callithrix kuhlii. We estimated predation risk by recording the number of encounters between lion tamarins and potential predators in cabruca agroforest (shaded cacao plantation) and in mosaic forest (a mix of cabruca, primary and secondary forest). To evaluate if the association between the two species was related to foraging benefits we recorded the number of associations between the two species when the lion tamarins were eating and when they were not eating. To test if the association occurred to improve predator detection and avoidance, we evaluated if associations between the species were more frequent in areas with higher predation risk and during the part of the day when predation risk is higher. We also compared the number of associations 3 months before birth events and 3 months after, when the lion tamarins are more susceptible to predation. Predation risk, mainly by raptors, was significantly higher in cabruca than in mosaic forest (0.17 and 0.05 encounters with predators per hour of observation, respectively). Associations were significantly more frequent after birth events and during the part of the day when predation risk was also higher (5–6 am until noon). We did not observe any direct evidence of foraging‐related advantages of interspecific associations for the lion tamarins. The tamarins did not associate more when they were foraging. Our findings suggest that lion tamarins are more exposed to predation in cabruca than in mosaic forest and associations between lion tamarins and Wieds marmosets are related to predation avoidance. Am. J. Primatol. 73:852–860, 2011.

An overview of Brazilian mammalogy: trends, biases and future directions

Mammals are among the most charismatic and well-studied organisms, and Brazil harbors the largest mammal diversity of the world. The Brazilian Society of Mammalogy was established in 1985, and since 2001 it organizes the Brazilian Congress of Mammalogy. We used the proceedings of all three editions of this congress together with papers indexed in Web of Science and Scielo to evaluate trends in Brazilian mammalogy. All contributions were categorized according to mammalian order, biome, topic of research and state of authors affiliation. Our results show that mammalian orders with higher species richness receive more attention, but the ranking is different between abstracts and papers. Higher species richness did not translate into more attention for more speciose biomes, and again the ranking was different between papers and abstracts. There are research topics that receive much higher attention than others, and also other important ones, like Taxonomy, that have been neglected. States with greater human populations produce both more papers and abstracts. We conclude that the higher number of publication in the Atlantic Forest is caused by the concentration of mammalogists in the south and southeastern regions of the country. Contrary to what is normally believed, mammalian orders received attention according to their species richness, and not their charisma, probably because richer orders provide more study models. We suggest that additional funding mechanisms should be set in place in order to encourage more research on mammalian orders, topics, and states which have been neglected so far, in order to improve the knowledge on important Brazilian mammal biodiversity.

Occurrences of the Golden-headed Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) above 500 Meters in Southern Bahia, Brazil and Implications for Conservation Planning

Abstract: n The golden-headed lion tamarin, Leontopithecus chrysomelas, was formerly thought to range below 300–400 m above sea level, because of changes in forest physiognomy and lack of resources at higher elevations. We document four cases (from two studies) of L. chrysomelas ranging above 500 m, and investigate the behavior of two groups that ranged from 100 to 700 m. We discuss the possibilities that 1) resources may be more abundant at higher elevations than previously thought, 2) a shift may have occurred in the species elevation-use patterns in response to forest loss and degradation at lower elevations, and that 3) golden-headed lion tamarins require low elevations for access to resources but use higher altitudes to travel between lower lying areas. Understanding exactly how L. chrysomelas uses higher elevations and the limits of its upper ranging patterns has significant conservation implications for this endangered species. Even without being able to definitively ascertain that golden-headed lion tamarins are able to settle in stable home ranges at higher elevations with adequate resources for breeding and survival, they certainly move through these habitats. We suggest, therefore, that slopes and ridge-tops should be taken into account as corridors to be preserved for gene flow in the otherwise highly fragmented L. chrysomelas metapopulation.

Population Genetic Structure of an Endangered Endemic Primate ( Leontopithecus chrysomelas ) in a Highly Fragmented Atlantic Coastal Rain Forest

This study evaluated the genetic structure of wild populations of the endangered primate, Leontopithecus chrysomelas. We tested the assumption that populations of L. chrysomelas, given their larger population size and a higher degree of habitat continuity, would have higher genetic diversity and less genetic structuring than other lion tamarins. We used 11 microsatellites and 122 hair samples from different locations to assess their genetic diversity and genetic structure, and to make inferences about the isolation by distance. The overall expected heterozygosity (0.51 ± 0.03) and the average number of alleles (3.6 ± 0.2) were relatively low, as is the case in other endangered lion tamarins. Genetic clustering analyses indicated two main clusters, whereas the statistical analyses based on genotype similarities and Fst suggested further substructure. A Mantel test showed that only 34% of this genetic differentiation was explained by the linear distance. In addition to linear distance, structural differences in the landscape, physical barriers and behavioural factors may be causing significant genetic structuring. Overall, this study suggests that these populations have a relatively low genetic diversity and a relatively high population genetic structure, putting in question whether the presence of agroforest systems (known locally as cabruca) is enough to fully re-establish functional landscape connectivity.