4.4 Deficiency

This study is a preliminary try to systematically provides an evolutionary change procedure of geographic distribution of the macaques in mainland East Asia from the Pleistocene to the 2050s during the Quaternary, associated with remarkable climate and bio-human impact factors. MaxEnt models illustrate progressive changes based on geographic records of fossils and extant species. Evolutionarily, macaques reached their distribution peak during the Plietstoce in East Asia, including the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and Japan(Li et al., 2020). Thus, the available fossil records may not reveal their real distribution profiles in LIG and LGM (Figure S1 and Figure 1). On the other hand, the extant macaque species on mainland Eas Asia demonstrate a broad geographic distribution, and the MaxEnt model only projects the basal ecological niches based on present-only distribution points; thus, the current distribution profile (Figure 2A) of the creatures may be narrow than their natural dispersion. Moreover, because of the incredible variety in ecology, habitat, and conservation statuses, the geographical change and conservation models proposed for the 2050s (Figs. 2B and 2C) may not have represented their survival perspective shortly regarding a specific species within the genus.