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Conservation of black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus ) in the Atlantic forest of the interior, Brazil

Claudio Valladares Padua and Suzana M. Padua

The black lion tamarin was considered extinct from the beginning of the 20th century until 1971, when it was re-discovered by a Brazilian researcher, Adelmar Coimbra-Filho, in the Morro do Diabo State Park, São Paulo. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Coimbra-Filho and an American researcher, Russell Mittermeier, conducted preliminary surveys and concluded that only 100 individuals existed in the wild. Those individuals were distributed between the Morro do Diabo State Park and the Caetetus Ecological Station, both formally protected by the Forestry Institute of São Paulo.

Nevertheless, this protection was somewhat tenuous, for in the early 1980s, the Energy Company of São Paulo (CESP) built three hydroelectric plants near Morro do Diabo Park. The smallest, Rosana, flooded five percent of the best black lion tamarin habitat. As concern for this loss grew, creating pressure for action, CESP called upon experts to help plan and implement a rescue operation for the tamarins found in the region to be flooded. That was how we initially became involved in the conservation of black lion tamarins. Since then, our engagement increased and the scope of our conservation actions broadened, leading to the long- term conservation project we have been conducting for the species.

The black lion tamarin conservation project began with research and a long-term plan that included surveys and censuses; evaluation of the species' genetic and demographic status; broader research on their ecology and behavior; conservation management of the captive population; an integrated environmental education program; habitat protection and restoration; and a metapopulation management system that includes reintroductions, translocations, and managed dispersals.

The first steps taken were not very successful. Initial surveys and censuses did not indicate the existence of any other populations. The genetic assessment, which at the time was based on 25 blood enzymes of the two known populations, showed 0% polymorphism and 0% heterozygosity, indicating a complete lack of genetic diversity in the species (Valladares-Padua 1987).

In 1987, we began a much more promising phase of the project, which dealt with several aspects at the same time. We conducted a comparative intraspecific study of the ecology and behavior of several groups of L. chrysopygus and established an environmental education program, both at the Morro do Diabo State Park and in surrounding areas. Results indicated that even with no genetic variability, the species showed ecological and behavioral plasticity, which allowed it to live in several different habitats (Valladares-Padua and Cullen 1994). At the same time, the environmental education program became a regional landmark. It became clear that it would only be possible to save the species if the conservation awareness, attitudes, and behavior of local communities changed (Padua and Valladares-Padua 1997).

In the early 1990s, the data we had gathered, together with remote sensing techniques, allowed us to conduct surveys to look for more populations. We have since found eight new subpopulations and estimates of total number of individuals are now around 900, with an effective population size of 360. Nevertheless, a viability analysis indicated that only the Morro do Diabo subpopulation might have a chance of surviving without any conservation management. The captive population of approximately 100 individuals also needed to be better managed, with wild individuals introduced to avoid inbreeding.

These data led us to focus on the conservation management of the subpopulations found in nature, treating them as a metapopulation. We decided to keep a maximum of 200 captive animals, with a genetic variability of at least 95%, in approximately ten institutions around the world. In this case, the captive population is a subpopulation of the metapopulation, and is called a nucleus population. The other subpopulations are found in isolated forest fragments, so the possibility of gene flow is part of the conservation aim of the strategy. Our goal is for the captive population to maintain a high proportion of the genetic diversity found in wild populations, becoming self-sufficient and a potential resource to repopulate nature should any catastrophic event severely reduce the wild subpopulations.

All this management requires a reasonable flow of animals among subpopulations. For this reason, we have adopted two main strategies. The first involves moving individuals, where we are responsible for transferring animals through reintroductions, translocations, and managed dispersals. The second consists of creating conditions for animal dispersal to occur naturally. For this to happen, we are working with rural communities and participants of the agrarian reform movement to restore the connectivity of forests in the landscape, especially in the Pontal region where most of the subpopulations are located.

So far we have translocated two groups, mixing wild animals with those born in captivity, and have also conducted a managed dispersal of two individuals. Two forest corridors are being planted to connect previously isolated forest fragments.

The process of enhancing protection of black lion tamarin habitat has led us to try to influence policies that deal with land distribution and occupation in the region. This also has led us to train our researchers in a new philosophy that permeates their professional activities, where working time has to be divided among at least three main components: conducting research, influencing policies for conservation, and raising the funds necessary to achieve the first two activities.

This project demonstrates that five aspects are critical to re-establish a viable population of an endangered species: (1) in-depth knowledge of the biology of the species, (2) integrated management of the wild and captive populations, with the emphasis on those found in nature; (3) involvement of the human communities sharing the species' range through both direct environmental education programs and conservation/agricultural extension, (4) a conservation perspective that considers the overall landscape, to guarantee sufficient habitat for the species, and (5) use of research results to influence conservation policies.

Literature Cited

Padua, S., and C. Valladares-Padua. 1997. Um programa integrado para a conservação do mico-leão-preto (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) - pesquisa, educação e envolvimento comunitário. Pages 119-131 in S. M. Padua and M. F. Tabanez, editors. Educação ambiental: caminhos trilhados no Brasil. IPE, Brasília.

Valladares-Padua, C. 1987. Black lion tamarin Leontopithecus chrysopygus: status and conservation. M.S. thesis. University of Florida, Gainesville.

Valladares-Padua, C., and L. Cullen, Jr. 1994. Distribution, abundance and minimum viable metapopulation of the Black Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus). The Dodo 30:80-88.

Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPE), co-directed by Claudio Valladares-Padua and Suzana M. Padua, received a 1999 Distinguished Service Award for combining sound science and realistic, power application of that science and serving as a model for effective NGOs in Latin America and around the world. They can be reached at ipe@alternex.com.br

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