Abstract
Human impacts are the major threat to health and well-being of forest
animals. Primates are particularly vulnerable to various anthropogenic
disturbances; therefore, in all taxa, they are threatened by various
human factors. This review summarizes anthropogenic factors such as
forest fragmentation, degradation, logging, direct human interactions,
and primate responses by reviewing the results presented in various
research papers. Humans are changing landscapes around the world through
overexploitation and consumption of natural resources. Behavior changes
in food composition and diversity, population density, group size, and
the adult gender relationship in groups are some examples. Habitat
fragmentation is a landscape-scale process in which continuous habitat
is broken down into small pieces scattered in a non-habitat matrix,
which can lead to the loss of many primate species. In general, human
invasion can result in habitat loss and fragmentation into various
fragments. In addition, primate fragment-scale responses can vary
significantly in landscapes of different habitats and composition. Study
on primate diversity in the African continent shows that primate species
have shown a classical species-area relationship, and of primate species
that may become extinct in the country due to deforestation. In this
review, I provide clear and consistent terminology to help future
studies precisely address the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on
primates and to help to form a body of literature where comparisons
among studies are possible.