Impact of Habitat Fragmentation on the Demography of Lion-tailed Macaque (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Macaca silenus</Emphasis>) Populations in the Rainforests of Anamalai Hills,Western Ghats,India |
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Authors: | Govindhaswamy Umapathy Shaik Hussain Sisinthy Shivaji |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, 500 007, India |
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Abstract: | Habitat fragmentation is considered the most serious threat to primate conservation in the tropics, and understanding it effects
on lion-tailed macaque is very important because most of the populations live in fragmented habitats. We examined demographic
parameters of 9 lion-tailed macaque groups in 8 rain forest fragments with reference to fragment area, tree density, canopy
cover, tree height, and total basal area of food trees. Group size ranged from 7 to 90 individuals but was not related to
habitat variables. Birth and growth rates of groups did not differ significantly between small (n = 4) and large (n = 4) fragments. Tree density, canopy cover, and total basal of food trees all show strong positive correlations with fragment
area. Growth rate correlates with tree density, but there are no other significant relationships between birth or growth rate
and habitat variables. The percentage of immature individuals in the group is significantly positively associated with the
total basal area of food trees, but not with any other habitat variable. Comparison of our data from this study with data
available for the same population in 1996 indicates a slight decline in birth rate but an increase in total number of individuals,
from 154 to 242. Of the 5 small fragment groups, 3 have increased in size since 1996 while the sizes of the other 2 groups
have remained the same. Based on this study, we advocate that to manage the fragile lion-tailed macaque groups the following
steps need to be taken: 1) create dispersal corridors between the fragments using fruit trees to facilitate male dispersal,
2) construct canopy bridges across the prevailing roads, 3) protect the fragments from further degradation, and 4) periodically
monitor these populations for long-term conservation. |
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