Survey of Plasmodium in the golden-headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) living in urban Atlantic forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract Background Communicating the presence of potential zoonotic pathogens such as Plasmodium spp. in wild animals is important for developing both animal and human health policies. Methods The translocation of an exotic and invasive population of Leontopithecus chrysomelas (golden-headed lion tamarins) required the screening of these animals for specific pathogens. This studies objective was to investigate Plasmodium spp. infection in the L. chrysomelas, both to know its prevalence in these animals in the local area and to minimize the risk of pathogens being translocated to the destination site. To investigate Plasmodium spp. infection, blood samples from 268 animals were assessed for the presence of Plasmodium spp. by genus-specific PCR and stained thick and thin blood smears were examined by light microscopy. Data of human malaria infection in the studied region was also assembled from SINAN (Diseases Information System Notification—Ministry of Health of Brazil). Results Results from the PCR and microscopy were all negative and suggested that no L. chrysomelas was infected with Plasmodium spp. Analysis of SINAN data showed that malaria transmission is present among the human population in the studied region. Conclusions This study is the first to provide information on Plasmodium spp. infection in L. chrysomelas. Plasmodium spp. infection of this species is rare or absent though malaria parasites circulate in the region. In addition, there is minimal risk of translocating Plasmodium spp. infected animals to the destination site

Primates in Peril: The world's 25 most endangered primates 2008-2010

Introduction Here we report on the fifth iteration of the biennial listing of a consensus of 25 primate species considered to be amongst the most endangered worldwide and the most in need of urgent conservation measures. The first was drawn up in 2000 by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, together with Conservation International (Mittermeier et al. 2000). The list was subsequently reviewed and updated in 2002 during an open meeting held during the 19th Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Beijing, China (Mittermeier et al. 2002). That occasion provided for debate among primatologists working in the field who had first-hand knowledge of the causes of threats to primates, both in general and in particular with the species or communities they study. The meeting and the review of the list of the World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates resulted in its official endorsement by the IPS, and became as such a combined endeavor of the Primate Specialist Group, the IPS, and Conservation International. A third revision was carried out at a meeting in August 2004, at the 20th Congress of the IPS in Torino, Italy (Mittermeier et al. 2006). The fourth, covering the biennium 2006–2008, was the result of a meeting held during the 21st Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS), in Entebbe, Uganda, 26–30 June 2006 (Mittermeier et al. 2007)

Primates in peril: The world's 25 most endangered primates, 2006-2008

From first paragraph: Here we report on the fourth iteration of the biennial listing of a consensus of 25 primate species considered to be amongst the most endangered worldwide and the most in need of urgent conservation measures. The first was drawn up in 2000 by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, together with Conservation International (Mittermeier et al. 2000). The list was subsequently reviewed and updated in 2002 during an open meeting held during the 19th Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Beijing, China (Mittermeier et al. 2002). That occasion provided for debate among primatologists working in the field who had first-hand knowledge of the causes of threats to primates, both in general and in particular with the species or communities they study

Pervasive defaunation of forest remnants in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Tropical deforestation and forest fragmentation are among the most important biodiversity conservation issues worldwide, yet local extinctions of millions of animal and plant populations stranded in unprotected forest remnants remain poorly explained. Here, we report unprecedented rates of local extinctions of medium to large-bodied mammals in one of the world's most important tropical biodiversity hotspots. We scrutinized 8,846 person-years of local knowledge to derive patch occupancy data for 18 mammal species within 196 forest patches across a 252,669-km2 study region of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We uncovered a staggering rate of local extinctions in the mammal fauna, with only 767 from a possible 3,528 populations still persisting. On average, forest patches retained 3.9 out of 18 potential species occupancies, and geographic ranges had contracted to 0-14.4% of their former distributions, including five large-bodied species that had been extirpated at a regional scale. Forest fragments were highly accessible to hunters and exposed to edge effects and fires, thereby severely diminishing the predictive power of species-area relationships, with the power model explaining only ~9% of the variation in species richness per patch. Hence, conventional species-area curves provided over-optimistic estimates of species persistence in that most forest fragments had lost species at a much faster rate than predicted by habitat loss alone

Levels of forest patch occupancy for 18 mammal species surveyed throughout the Atlantic Forest study region of northeastern Brazil.

<p>Species are ordered top to bottom according to increasing level of patch occupancy. Dark-gray bars indicate the proportion of all 196 forest patches occupied by each species (see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041671#pone-0041671-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> for full Latin and English names), and solid circles indicate the aggregate forest area contained within all occupied patches.</p

Distribution of remaining forest patches across the northern Atlantic Forest study region showing all surveyed forest patches.

<p>For detailed maps see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041671#pone.0041671.s002" target="_blank">Fig. S1</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041671#pone.0041671.s003" target="_blank">S2</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0041671#pone.0041671.s004" target="_blank">S3</a>.</p

Body mass, forest patch occupancy (N = 196 forest fragments) and regional scale estimates of geographic range contraction for the 18 mammal species surveyed in this study.

‡<p>Total area of fragments larger than the smallest occupied patch throughout the entire study region, on the basis of 738,887 fragments >0.1 ha encompassing ∼3.8 million ha of forest.</p>*<p>Aggregate area of forest fragments larger than the smallest occupied patch on the basis of patch occupancy data.</p>†<p>Percentage of total area likely to be occupied in relation to the total area of forest fragments within the entire study region (∼3.8 million ha).</p

Species-area relationships (SARs) for (a) species richness, (b) a measure of total biomass, and (c) a measure of total species vulnerability for 18 mammal species surveyed at 196 forest patches of the Atlantic forest of northeastern Brazil.

<p>Solid circles (and corresponding regression lines and 95% confidence intervals) indicate the five existing strictly protected forest areas in the entire study region, for which intercepts were clearly higher. All other data points (gray circles) represent unprotected forest sites.</p

Size distribution of all forest patches surveyed (left, <i>N</i> = 196) or not surveyed (right, <i>N</i> = 613,997 patches >0.25 ha) within the entire study region (∼252,669 km²).

<p>Numerical representation of different-sized patches are expressed in terms of proportions of the total.</p