Assessing the state of knowledge of contemporary climate change and primates

In recent years, interest in understanding the effects of climate change on species and ecological systems has sharply increased. We quantify and contextualize the current state of knowledge about the effects of contemporary climate change on non-human primates, a taxon of great ecological and anthropological significance. Specifically, we report findings from a systematic literature search designed to assess the allocation of research effort on primates and climate change and consider how the current distribution of knowledge may be influencing our understanding of the topic. We reveal significant phylogenetic and geographic gaps in our knowledge, which is strongly biased towards lemurs, apes, and a relatively small subset of primate range countries. We show that few analyses investigate changes in primate foods relative to changes in primates themselves or their habitats, and observe that few longitudinal datasets are of sufficient duration to detect effects on the generational scale. We end by identifying areas of research inquiry that would advance our theoretical understanding of primate ecology, evolution, and adaptability, and meaningfully contribute to primate conservation.