Why is primatology so important in the 21st century?

Why is primatology one of the most important branches of science in the 21st century? 

This was the question I posed in the discussion at the end of the XX VII International Primatological Society Congress in Nairobi this year. 

In the mid-20th century, just down the road from where the IPS Congress took place. Dr Louis Leakey would have explained the importance of our work by referring to the need to understand our own species better by studying our relatives. He famously initiated three ground-breaking studies of great apes — by Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Bimuté Galdikas - on the grounds that behavioural and anatomical traits we share with non-human primates are likely derived from a common ancestor, whose fossil remains he sought in his excavations in East Africa. His fossils might teach us about the anatomy of long-lost ancestors but he wanted to know how they behaved. One might observe that the motivation, as is often the case with human is, well - it’s all about us! We are a somewhat self-obsessed species and do seem to find anything which sheds light on humankind of enormous interest. This perfectly valid anthropocentric viewpoint still motivates many studies, but in my view, it is now eclipsed by a more biocentric rationale. 

Most primates eat fruit and thereby act as seed dispersal agents. Others eat leaves and, while selectively harvesting them, prune the apical meristems from the tips of branches, thereby stimulating the lateral shoots to grow. Some primates pollinate flowers as they sip nectar. Great apes build nests (and break branches in displays) creating light gaps in the canopy, beneath which their dung fertilises the soil and gives germinating seedlings a good start. Insectivorous primates control insect numbers — natural pest control. Primates are indeed #GardenersoftheForest and savannah- woodlands throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. But primates are also made of meat and are one of the most hunted groups of mammals in all part of the tropics where human cultures include the consumption of primates, sometimes simply as food but often laced with beliefs in medicinal or magical properties (Redmond et al.. 2006). This is by no means everywhere that primates live, but as primate habitat is opened up for logging, mining and other extractive industries, the improved transport links also enable hunters from afar to access primate populations that may in the past have been protected by their benign immediate human neighbours. 

As the importance of primates m forest ecology becomes increasingly clear, and the importance of tropical forests in driving global weather patterns and maintaining a stable climate is recognised, it follows that understanding primate ecology takes on new importance. And protecting primates becomes a high priority not just for species conservation or animal welfare concerns, but as a part of efforts to prevent dangerous climate change. As Brodie and Gibbs (2009) put it, “Wood density is among the best predictors of aboveground carbon storage in tropical forests. Simulations of species composition in Panama show that selective logging of trees with high wood density reduces forest carbon storage by a staggering 70%. We suggest that degradations of carbon storage can also be driven by overhunting, as large-seeded trees with high wood density are deprived of their seed-dispersing animals.”

Research around the tropics is now confining this prediction; for example, Bello et al. (2015) found that in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, “defaunation has the potential to significantly erode carbon storage when only a small proportion of large-seeded trees are extirpated Although intergovernmental policies to reduce carbon emissions and reforestation programs have been mostly focused on deforestation, our results demonstrate that defaunation, and the loss of key ecological interactions, also poses a serious risk for the maintenance of tropical forest carbon storage.”

This gives a new impetus to in situ primatological research - long-term field sites can provide historical data over decades and a new generation of primatologists seeking topics to study can elucidate this ecological link between primate and climate. Sadly, it is all too easy to find sites where primate populations have declined or even been extirpated and where one can study the changes in tree species among seedlings, saplings and mature trees. Such studies will likely reinforce the need for rehabilitation and reintroduction of primates rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. If we are to rebuild ecosystems to restore. Local weather patterns and stabilise global climate in the 21" century, primate rescue and rehabilitation is not just a matter of animal welfare and primate conservation, it becomes part of the worldwide efforts to rebuild and maintain a healthy biosphere.

This article is also published on Primate Eye. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

References

Redmond, I., Aldred, T., Jedamzil., K. and Westwood, M.2006 Recipes for Survival: Controlling the Bushhmeat Trade. Ape Alliance and WSPA:https://www.4ape_s.c.om/workine-!ZToups/bushmeat

Brodie, J.F. and Gibbs, H.K., 2009 Busbmeat bunting as Climate Threat. Science, 326, 365-365. 

Bello, C., Galletti, M.. Pizo, M.A., Magnago, L.F.S., Rocha, M.F., Lima, R.A.F., Peres, C.A., Ovaskainen, 0. andJord-ano, P. 2015 Defaunation affects c.arbonstorage intropicaJforests. Science Advances 1(11): http:/ladvances.scieucemag.org/contentllll l/el501105