Sloan Evan T, Beehner Jacinta C, Bergman Thore J, Lu Amy, Snyder-Mackler Noah, Jacquemyn Hans
Plant Conservation and Population Biology Group Department of Biology KU Leuven Leuven Belgium.
Department of Psychology University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan USA.
Ecol Evol. 2022 Mar 26;12(3):e8759. doi: 10.1002/ece3.8759. eCollection 2022 Mar.
Nonhuman primates are an essential part of tropical biodiversity and play key roles in many ecosystem functions, processes, and services. However, the impact of climate variability on nonhuman primates, whether anthropogenic or otherwise, remains poorly understood. In this study, we utilized age-structured matrix population models to assess the population viability and demographic variability of a population of geladas () in the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia with the aim of revealing any underlying climatic influences. Using data from 2008 to 2019 we calculated annual, time-averaged, and stochastic population growth rates () and investigated relationships between vital rate variability and monthly cumulative rainfall and mean temperature. Our results showed that under the prevailing environmental conditions, the population will increase ( = 1.021). Significant effects from rainfall and/or temperature variability were widely detected across vital rates; only the first year of infant survival and the individual years of juvenile survival were definitively unaffected. Generally, the higher temperature in the hot-dry season led to lower survival and higher fecundity, while higher rainfall in the hot-dry season led to increased survival and fecundity. Overall, these results provide evidence of greater effects of climate variability across a wider range of vital rates than those found in previous primate demography studies. This highlights that although primates have often shown substantial resilience to the direct effects of climate change, their vulnerability may vary with habitat type and across populations.
非人灵长类动物是热带生物多样性的重要组成部分，在许多生态系统功能、过程和服务中发挥着关键作用。然而，气候变率对非人灵长类动物的影响，无论是人为的还是其他方面的，仍然知之甚少。在本研究中，我们利用年龄结构矩阵种群模型评估了埃塞俄比亚西米恩山脉狮尾狒狒种群的种群生存力和种群统计学变异性，目的是揭示任何潜在的气候影响。利用2008年至2019年的数据，我们计算了年度、时间平均和随机种群增长率，并研究了生命率变异性与月累计降雨量和平均温度之间的关系。我们的结果表明，在当前环境条件下，该种群将增长（λ = 1.021）。在各个生命率中广泛检测到降雨和/或温度变率的显著影响；只有婴儿存活的第一年和幼年存活的个别年份明确不受影响。一般来说，炎热干燥季节较高的温度导致较低的存活率和较高的繁殖力，而炎热干燥季节较高的降雨量导致存活率和繁殖力增加。总体而言，这些结果提供了证据，表明气候变率在更广泛的生命率范围内的影响比以前的灵长类种群统计学研究中发现的影响更大。这突出表明，尽管灵长类动物通常对气候变化的直接影响表现出很强的恢复力，但其脆弱性可能因栖息地类型和种群而异。
