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An international team of biologists, planetary scientists and conservationists has conducted a large-scale study of non-human primate populations around the world to gauge their risk of extinction due to climate change.

In their paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the group describes how they collected and analyzed data from the four major regions that serve as home to primates. They then combined what they found with primate characteristics to develop a means for calculating their extinction risk as the environment in which they are living changes in the years ahead.

Prior research has shown that as the planet grows warmer, different parts of the Earth will experience different changes—some will see more rain, others less, resulting in changes to vegetation and the animals that rely on such sources of food to survive. In this new study, the research team linked changes to the places where primates live with their ability to survive.

In all, the research team obtained and analyzed data for 22,705 places where primates live, from Madagascar, to Asia, Africa, and South and Central America and also the Caribbean.

As part of their analysis, the researchers attempted to estimate changes in rainfall amounts and vegetation and determine how quickly conditions might change. They also looked at attributes of the primates, such as their body size, their range, whether they slept in the day or at night, their predators, and their evolutionary distinctiveness.

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