Quantifying the severity of hurricanes on extinction probabilities of a primate population: Insights into "Island" extirpations.

Long-term studies quantifying impacts of hurricane activity on growth and trajectory of primate populations are rare. Using a 14-year monitored population of Alouatta palliata mexicana as a study system, we developed a modeling framework to assess the relative contribution of hurricane disturbance and two types of human impacts, habitat loss, and hunting, on quasi-extinction risk. We found that the scenario with the highest level of disturbance generated a 21% increase in quasi-extinction risk by 40 years compared to scenarios of intermediate disturbance, and around 67% increase relative to that found in low disturbance scenarios.

Natural population die-offs: causes and consequences for terrestrial mammals.

Extreme changes in the environment can generate high mortalities in wildlife populations. When these mortalities are attributable to extreme natural events, they are referred to as natural population die-offs. Despite growing reports of such die-offs, a consensus on how to define them has not emerged.