Conservation Priorities for the Peruvian Yellow-Tailed Woolly Monkey (Oreonax flavicauda): A GIS Risk Assessment and Gap Analysis

Abstract

An inductive GIS (Geographical Information System) process was used to create a realistic Habitat Suitability Model (HSM) for the current distributional range of the Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda) to aid current conservation initiatives and to help set future conservation priorities for the species. In combination with this, we produced an ecological risk assessment model of the study region to assist in site selection for priority areas for conservation actions, which included the expansion of the existing protected area system and the creation of new reserves in areas forming natural biological corridors in the northeastern Peruvian departments of Amazonas and San Martin. This study incorporates information regarding the threat of hunting and other anthropogenic pressures on the species into the site selection process. Oreonax flavicauda, currently on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Critically Endangered, was once thought to be extinct. Since its rediscovery in 1974, however, there has been little research on this species due to its small population size, restricted distribution, and the difficulty of access to its mountainous habitat. A gap analysis showed that the current protected area network was inadequate to conserve the yellow-tailed woolly monkey's current suitable habitat. This finding underlines the urgency of upgrading the protected area network as well as implementing other conservation initiatives. The selection of sites suitable for the creation of new protected areas was based on habitat composition, altitudinal and geographical limits, and proximity to human influences, using an inductive process of extracting information from locations where O. flavicauda is known to occur, from existing demographic information on human populations, and by qualitative judgments. We recommend urgent action to protect this species before population numbers decrease further.