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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Conserv. Sci.
Sec. Animal Conservation
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2024.1423321
This article is part of the Research Topic Linking Habitat Quality to Population Dynamics for Conservation Decision Making View all 9 articles

Securing Black Lion Tamarin Populations: Improving Habitat-Based Inputs and Risks for Population Viability Analysis to Inform Management Decisions

Provisionally accepted
Francy Forero-Sánchez Francy Forero-Sánchez 1,2*Gabriela Cabral Rezende Gabriela Cabral Rezende 1,3Cláudio Valladares-Pádua Cláudio Valladares-Pádua 1Fabio Stucchi Vannucchi Fabio Stucchi Vannucchi 4Leandro Jerusalinsky Leandro Jerusalinsky 3,5Luciana Pacca Luciana Pacca 5Kathy Traylor-Holzer Kathy Traylor-Holzer 6
  • 1 Faculty for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability (ESCAS), IPÊ - Institute for Ecological Research, Nazaré Paulista, Nazaré Paulista, SP, Brazil
  • 2 Tití Project Foundation, Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia
  • 3 IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG), Austin, Texas, United States
  • 4 São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, São Vicente, SP, Brazil
  • 5 Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Primatas Brasileiros, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), Cabedelo, Brazil
  • 6 Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG), Apple Valley, Minnesota, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Wild populations across the globe face an escalating risk of decline and potential extinction due to a variety of threats. Key among these are habitat loss and degradation, which results in smaller, isolated populations that are vulnerable to stochastic effects. The Endangered black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) survives in 17 fragments of the Atlantic Forest within the Paranapanema River basin, in southeast Brazil, with an estimated 2,255 individuals. Life history and threat data from the 2005 Population Viability Analysis (PVA) for this species were updated and augmented, including new estimates of environmental resistance factors present in, or projected for, their habitat. Notably, improved estimates of carrying capacity for this species were developed using a plant-based energetic model. Climate change and fire risk data were incorporated to project future carrying capacity, and habitat connectivity supported estimates of black lion tamarin dispersal across this fragmented landscape. The resulting population viability projections using Vortex simulation software identify core subpopulations with low extinction risk and high gene diversity, as well as smaller subpopulations with low long-term viability, highlighting the need for targeted conservation strategies across the fragmented metapopulation.

    Keywords: carrying capacity, Climate Change, Fire Risk, vortex, Metapopulation, Conservation Planning

    Received: 25 Apr 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Forero-Sánchez, Rezende, Valladares-Pádua, Vannucchi, Jerusalinsky, Pacca and Traylor-Holzer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Francy Forero-Sánchez, Faculty for Environmental Conservation and Sustainability (ESCAS), IPÊ - Institute for Ecological Research, Nazaré Paulista, Nazaré Paulista, SP, Brazil

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