Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
were found to have hybridized with each other in southern Laos, and we do not
yet understand the consequences of this genetic mixing. Several other threats
face macaques in southern Laos. Hunting pressure does occur, but it does not
appear to have a great impact. However, habitat loss and degradation by dam
construction, large-scale farmland, and industrial afforestation (ie., plantation of
acacia, eucalyptus, etc.) does appear a significant threat. Soon these land devel-
opments will be advanceing more rapidly after the construction of international
roads and bridges. These developments will likely destroy low altitude, second-
ary and riverine forests that are preferred habitats of the rhesus and long-tailed
macaques, and thus could be great threats to their future sustainability.
A nationwide assessment of distribution, density and abundance of
macaques, together with habitat evaluation is urgently needed to better
understand the conservation needs to sustain their populations. Macaques
are neither rare nor endemic in Laos. However, studies of local populations
in Laos are important for the reconstruction of the phylogeny of this species
and for better understanding their population ecology. Moreover, as human
land changes bring people and macaques into greater contact, management
of human-macaque conflict will also need to be considered. We would like to
suggest that international or domestic transport and trade should be strictly
controlled, as we do not yet know how this is affecting macaque the size and
gene flow of populations. Secondly, land-use for agriculture of large-scale
commodity crops should be controlled so the forested areas will be kept con-
tinuous with each other. Finally, hunting of wildlife should be controlled,
and an alternative protein source should be supplied, along with education
for people regarding the fact that wildlife does not have any special nutrition
over other foods.
Acknowledgements
We thank staff of the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, National
University of Laos for their help and encouragement to the field survey. This
study was financially supported by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS, Fund Nos. 16405017 and 20255006).
References
Blancher, A., Bonhomme, M., Crouau-Roy, B., Keiji. T., Kitano, T., and Saitou, N.
2008. Mitochondrial DNA sequence phylogeny of 4 populations of the widely
distributed cynomolgus macaque (
Macaca fascicularis fascicularis
).
Journal of
Heredity
99
(3): 254-264.
