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. 2020 Aug 26;70(9):794-803.
doi: 10.1093/biosci/biaa082. eCollection 2020 Sep.

A Severe Lack of Evidence Limits Effective Conservation of the World's Primates

Jessica Junker  1 , Silviu O Petrovan  2 , Victor Arroyo-RodrÍguez  3 , Ramesh Boonratana  4 , Dirck Byler  5 , Colin A Chapman  6 , Dilip Chetry  7 , Susan M Cheyne  8 , Fanny M Cornejo  9 , Liliana CortÉs-Ortiz  10 , Guy Cowlishaw  11 , Alec P Christie  2 , Catherine Crockford  12 , Stella De La Torre  13 , Fabiano R De Melo  14 , P Fan  15 , Cyril C Grueter  16 , Diana C GuzmÁn-Caro  17 , Eckhard W Heymann  18 , Ilka Herbinger  19 , Minh D Hoang  20 , Robert H Horwich  21 , Tatyana Humle  22 , Rachel A Ikemeh  23 , Inaoyom S Imong  24 , Leandro Jerusalinsky  25 , Steig E Johnson  26 , Peter M Kappeler  27 , Maria CecÍlia M Kierulff  28 , Inza KonÉ  29 , Rebecca Kormos  1 , Khac Q Le  30 , Baoguo Li  31 , Andrew J Marshall  32 , Erik Meijaard  33 , Russel A Mittermeier  5 , Yasuyuki Muroyama  34 , Eleonora Neugebauer  35 , Lisa Orth  36 , Erwin Palacios  37 , Sarah K Papworth  38 , Andrew J Plumptre  32 , Ben M Rawson  39 , Johannes Refisch  40 , Jonah Ratsimbazafy  41 , Christian Roos  18 , Joanna M Setchell  42 , Rebecca K Smith  2 , Tene Sop  43 , Christoph Schwitzer  44 , Kerry Slater  45 , Shirley C Strum  46 , William J Sutherland  2 , MaurÍcio Talebi  47 , Janette Wallis  48 , Serge Wich  49 , Elizabeth A Williamson  50 , Roman M Wittig  12 , Hjalmar S KÜhl  1
Affiliations

A Severe Lack of Evidence Limits Effective Conservation of the World's Primates

Jessica Junker et al. Bioscience. .

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum: A Severe Lack of Evidence Limits Effective Conservation of the World's Primates.
    Junker J, Petrovan SO, Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Boonratana R, Byler D, Chapman CA, Chetry D, Cheyne SM, Cornejo FM, Cortés-Ortiz L, Cowlishaw G, Christie AP, Crockford C, de la Torre S, de Melo FR, Fan P, Grueter CC, Guzmán-Caro DC, Heymann EW, Herbinger I, Hoang MD, Horwich RH, Humle T, Ikemeh RA, Imong IS, Jerusalinsky L, Johnson SE, Kappeler PM, Kierulff MCM, Koné I, Kormos R, LE KQ, Li B, Marshall AJ, Meijaard E, Mittermeier RA, Muroyama Y, Neugebauer E, Orth L, Palacios E, Papworth SK, Plumptre AJ, Rawson BM, Refisch J, Ratsimbazafy J, Roos C, Setchell JM, Smith RK, Sop T, Schwitzer C, Slater K, Strum SC, Sutherland WJ, Talebi M, Wallis J, Wich S, Williamson EA, Wittig RM, Kühl HS. Junker J, et al. Bioscience. 2020 Nov 13;71(1):105. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biaa143. eCollection 2021 Jan. Bioscience. 2020. PMID: 33442330 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Threats to biodiversity are well documented. However, to effectively conserve species and their habitats, we need to know which conservation interventions do (or do not) work. Evidence-based conservation evaluates interventions within a scientific framework. The Conservation Evidence project has summarized thousands of studies testing conservation interventions and compiled these as synopses for various habitats and taxa. In the present article, we analyzed the interventions assessed in the primate synopsis and compared these with other taxa. We found that despite intensive efforts to study primates and the extensive threats they face, less than 1% of primate studies evaluated conservation effectiveness. The studies often lacked quantitative data, failed to undertake postimplementation monitoring of populations or individuals, or implemented several interventions at once. Furthermore, the studies were biased toward specific taxa, geographic regions, and interventions. We describe barriers for testing primate conservation interventions and propose actions to improve the conservation evidence base to protect this endangered and globally important taxon.

Keywords: IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group; conservation interventions; effectiveness; evidence based.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Comparison of the representation of different taxa in the Conservation Evidence database showing numbers of studies evaluating conservation interventions (in blue), number of species (and percentage of total number of species) evaluated in those studies (in orange), and number of threatened (Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered on the basis of the IUCN Red List) species (and percentage of total number of threatened species) per taxonomic group (in red). (b) Relative representation of different primate families in the Conservation Evidence database. The darker blue the primate icon, the better represented the primate families are (relatively higher percentages of intervention studies compared with the percentage of threatened primate species they contain). The darker red the primate icon, the more poorly represented primate families are (relatively lower percentages of intervention studies compared with the percentage of threatened primate species). Primate families with a white primate icon indicate that they were not tested by any intervention studies. The phylogenetic tree is based on Perelman and colleagues (2011). Image silhouettes for this figure were kindly provided by Sarah Werning (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Terpsichores Indriidae (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), Roberto Díaz Sibaja (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), Maky, Gabriella Skollar, Rebecca Lewis (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
A breakdown of the number of primate interventions and corresponding studies in the Conservation Evidence database that have been assessed for their effectiveness: effective (interventions that were scored as likely to be beneficial) ineffective, or harmful (interventions that were scored as unlikely to be beneficial, that were a trade-off between benefits and harms, or that were likely to be ineffective or harmful), unknown effectiveness (studies with insufficient evidence).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a) The geographical distribution of the numbers of threatened primate species and of studies on primate conservation effectiveness per primate range country (data on species distribution and IUCN threat status courtesy of Anthony Rylands). The countries are color coded across their entire territories, including some areas without primates. Countries without circles had no studies reported for them. (b) The number of primate intervention studies compared with the number of threatened primate species in 2 × 2 degree grid cells. The point size represents the number of points (grid cells) at that position on the figure. Grid cells where no threatened primate species and no studies were present, were excluded.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
A diagram outlining the barriers and disincentives hampering evidence-based primate conservation and the actions needed to develop a more effective primate conservation framework. The colors of the different barriers and actions indicate which one of the findings of this study they relate to.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Increase in the number of primate range-country nationals authoring conservation effectiveness studies included in the primate synopsis (Junker et al. 2017) over the past 30 years (while controlling for changes in the number of publications over the same time period).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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