Conservation of southern Amazonian marmosets in Brazil

Rodrigo Costa Araújo

The southern Amazonian marmosets encompass 14 species of primates from genera Mico and Callibella that are commonly known as "marmosets", and occur on south Amazon rainforest. Southern Amazonian Marmosets (SAM) are little studied in the field and thus baseline data on species diversity, distribution and threats is very scarce. At the same time, these primates occur in the most threatened portion of the Amazon rainforest: this region is known as the "Arc of Deforestation" because it suffers the highest rates of forest conversion to human-made landscapes. Under this scenario of large-scale forest reduction in southern Amazonia and the lack of baseline data that could support conservation strategies for SAM, urgent efforts are needed to their protection. Our main goals are (1) to generate baseline data on species diversity, distribution and threats in SAM, (2) to construct a framework for conservation of SAM, and (3) to raise awareness and engagement of stakeholders for the implementation of conservation strategies for SAM. This is a fieldwork-based research because all primary data needed to support conservation of southern Amazonian marmosets must be gathered in the field.