Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Most Primate Species Threatened With Extinction, Scientists Find

Clockwise from top left: a juvenile gorilla, Hainan gibbon; golden lion tamarin; Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, gorilla and 4-month old baby and adult gorilla. Center left, a black-and-white ruffed lemur; center right, a crested black macaque ape.
JAN. 18, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/science/almost-two-thirds-of-primate-species-near-extinction-scientists-find.html


*


Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates: Why primates matter
Science Advances 18 Jan 2017:
Vol. 3, no. 1, e1600946
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600946
Abstract
Nonhuman primates, our closest biological relatives, play important roles in the livelihoods, cultures, and religions of many societies and offer unique insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and the threat of emerging diseases. They are an essential component of tropical biodiversity, contributing to forest regeneration and ecosystem health. Current information shows the existence of 504 species in 79 genera distributed in the Neotropics, mainland Africa, Madagascar, and Asia. Alarmingly, ~60% of primate species are now threatened with extinction and ~75% have declining populations. This situation is the result of escalating anthropogenic pressures on primates and their habitats—mainly global and local market demands, leading to extensive habitat loss through the expansion of industrial agriculture, large-scale cattle ranching, logging, oil and gas drilling, mining, dam building, and the construction of new road networks in primate range regions. Other important drivers are increased bushmeat hunting and the illegal trade of primates as pets and primate body parts, along with emerging threats, such as climate change and anthroponotic diseases. Often, these pressures act in synergy, exacerbating primate population declines. Given that primate range regions overlap extensively with a large, and rapidly growing, human population characterized by high levels of poverty, global attention is needed immediately to reverse the looming risk of primate extinctions and to attend to local human needs in sustainable ways. Raising global scientific and public awareness of the plight of the world’s primates and the costs of their loss to ecosystem health and human society is imperative.
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/1/e1600946
full text: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/1/e1600946.full


*


No matter where you look, most primate species are in decline
Jan. 19, 2017
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/no-matter-where-you-look-most-primate-species-are-decline [no comments yet]


*


Primates facing 'extinction crisis'

Deforestation has driven the Sumatran orangutan to the brink of extinction.
The world's primates face an "extinction crisis" with 60% of species now threatened with extinction, according to research, which also revealed that 75% of species have populations that are declining.
18 January 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38652196 [with comments]


*


The world might see a mass extinction of primates if humans don’t act
January 19, 2017
[...]
But the future looks grave not just for primate species but for all creatures in tropical and subtropical forest ecosystems, according to the report. The problems facing primates, Garber and co-author Anthony Rylands argue, mirror the threats to biodiversity at large.
“Many people would say, ‘Oh dear, you know, this species is in trouble and that species is in trouble,’ ” Rylands [ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthony_Rylands ] said in a video

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SnX4Gez2ZQ ] released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science Advances. Rylands is deputy chair of the Species Survival Commission’s Primate Specialist Group, part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and a senior research scientist at the Virginia-based Conservation International.
“But few people can see the really big picture, which is that human activities … are resulting in the demise of tropical forests around the world, and this has serious consequences for not just the primates,” Rylands continued. “Loss of these forests affects water supply, affects climate change, affects all sorts of major conservation issues around the world.”
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/19/the-world-may-see-a-mass-extinction-of-primates-if-humans-dont-act/ [with embedded video, and comments]


--


(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127421628 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127740840 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127908590 and preceding and following;
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127931087 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127962236 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=127962716 and preceding and following