Deriving Conservation Status for a High 2 Altitude Population : Golden Monkeys

8 Human modification of ecosystems is threatening biodiversity on a global scale. 9 For example, it is estimated that, during the 1990s, 16 million ha of forest were lost 10 globally each and every year, of which 15.2 million ha were tropical forest (FAO 11 2005, 2010). Furthermore, even when the physical structure of the forest remains 12 intact, subsistence and commercial hunting has had profound impacts on animal 13 populations. For example, Chapman and Peres (2001) estimate that 3.8 million 14 primates are consumed annually in the Brazilian Amazon alone. Human modifi15 cation of ecosystems have also contributed to the approximate 0.6 C warming of 16 the earth’s climate over the past 100 years, and some estimates suggest that the 17 climate could warm by up by 5.8 C this century (IPPC 2001; Walther et al. 2002). 18 Such changes have led to an increase in the number of species being considered 19 endangered (http://www.iucnredlist.org/ January 2012 update). 20 In Uganda, the country where this study focuses, threats to biodiversity are 21 similarly grave. Closed-canopy tropical forest once covered 20 % of the country, 22 but deforestation has reduced this to just 3 %, with 18 % of forest lost between 23 1990 and 2000 (Howard et al. 2000). The most recent estimate suggests that the 24 annual rate of loss for tropical high forest in Uganda is 7 %, while 5 % of 25 woodland and 4 % of bushland is lost each year (Pomeroy and Tushabe 2004). The