Erinjery Joseph J, Kumar Shanthala, Kumara Honnavalli N, Mohan K, Dhananjaya Tejeshwar, Sundararaj P, Kent Rafi, Singh Mewa
Biopsychology Laboratory and Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India.
Department of Geography and Environment, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
PLoS One. 2017 Aug 23;12(8):e0182140. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182140. eCollection 2017.
The populations of many species that are widespread and commensal with humans have been drastically declining during the past few decades, but little attention has been paid to their conservation. Here, we report the status of the bonnet macaque, a species that is considered 'least-concern' for conservation. We show that the widely ranging rhesus macaque is expanding its range into the distributional range of the bonnet macaque, a species endemic only to southern India. Bonnet macaques have very low abundance in forests of all types indicating that it is not a typically forest dwelling species. The traditionally preferred habitats of bonnet macaques have been Hindu temples/ tourist spots but our data reveal that nearly 50% population of bonnet macaques has disappeared from such previously occupied spots. Another preferred habitat of bonnet macaques has been roadsides with abundant Ficus trees adjoining croplands. We found that between 2003 and 2015, the roadsides have drastically changed where vegetation has been replaced with barren lands and urbanization. Consequently, the populations of bonnet macaques have declined by more than 65% over the past 25 years, and by more than 50% between 2003 and 2015 alone. We, therefore, conclude that this 'least-concern' species is actually facing serious conservation challenges. We also identify a few places such as small hillocks with natural vegetation and a few temples/tourist spots which are likely to remain stable and thus can serve as 'bonnet macaque conservation reserves'. Since the bonnet macaque shares many traits with several other commensal and 'low-risk' species, it can serve as a model for the development of long-term conservation strategies for most such species.
在过去几十年里，许多与人类共生且分布广泛的物种数量急剧下降，但它们的保护问题却很少受到关注。在此，我们报告冠毛猕猴的现状，该物种在保护方面被认为是“最不濒危”的。我们发现，分布广泛的恒河猴正在将其活动范围扩展到仅在印度南部特有的冠毛猕猴的分布范围内。在所有类型的森林中，冠毛猕猴的数量都非常少，这表明它不是典型的栖息于森林的物种。冠毛猕猴传统上偏好的栖息地是印度教寺庙/旅游景点，但我们的数据显示，近50%的冠毛猕猴种群已从这些先前占据的地点消失。冠毛猕猴的另一个偏好栖息地是路边，那里有大量毗邻农田的榕树。我们发现，在2003年至2015年期间，路边发生了巨大变化，植被被荒地和城市化所取代。因此，冠毛猕猴的数量在过去25年里下降了65%以上，仅在2003年至2015年期间就下降了50%以上。因此，我们得出结论，这种“最不濒危”的物种实际上正面临着严峻的保护挑战。我们还确定了一些地方，如拥有自然植被的小山丘和一些寺庙/旅游景点，这些地方可能会保持稳定，因此可以作为“冠毛猕猴保护区”。由于冠毛猕猴与其他几种共生且“低风险”的物种有许多共同特征，它可以作为为大多数此类物种制定长期保护策略的一个范例。
