5. Conclusion
With the datasets of fossils and extant taxa of the macaques, this study
integrally analyses the variables associated with bioclimatic
components, environmental characters, and human population – which have
significantly shaped macaques’ evolutionary distribution patterns from
LIG to the present on mainland East Asia, based on which their future
distribution profiles in the 2050s are constructed, referring to the two
CO2 emission scenarios. Some main results include:
1). Macaques’ suitable
distributions, initially concentrated in the Southwest, Central, and
Coastal during LIG and LGM, started reducing in the eastern Southwest
and the south of Central and Coastal after LGM.
2). Diminishing carbon emissions due to deforestation, coal combustion,
and other human activities but increasing habitat restoration, which
China has emphasized, would undoubtedly allow the macaques to maintain
their current distribution areas.
3). Precipitation fluctuation,
the increased human population size, and temperature changes would
continue to play a dominant role in the potential development of
suitable distributions for the macaques.
4). To allow the macaques, and the other animals in mainland China, to
maintain sustainable diversity and more suitable distributions for
conservation purposes, we propose a ) restoring some fragmented
forests in suitable distribution areas, b ) expanding the sizes
of established protected areas or increasing buffer zones with
ecological corridors between the fragmentations by roads and human
construction.
5)
The Southwest and southeast of the Northwest in China will provide
valuable future shelters for the macaques and perhaps other animals,
considering more migration corridors will be reserved there. Thus, those
areas should be prioritized in their conservation.