Primates and Fragmentation of the Amazon Forest

Abstract

Many areas of what was once primary Neotropical forest are now areas of deforestation, areas of habitat fragmentation, and areas of isolated forest fragments. This change in the forest is mainly attributed to increased human activity. In the case of the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation is more widespread in the states of Pará and Rondônia than in Amazonas. With increasing human population and associated socioeconomic pressures, however, significant deforestation in this central region of the Amazon basin may soon match the other states (INPE, 1998). What happens to the flora and fauna in this new mosaic of isolated forest remnants and secondary growth is only beginning to be understood. Examining the effects of fragmentation on the medium- and large-sized rain forest mammals is often the first and simplest place to begin, given their relative ease of observation and measurement (Gilbert and Setz, 2001; Malcolm, 1988, 1990; Spironelo, 1987).