DIVERSITY COMPONENTS OF IMPENDING PRIMATE EXTINCTIONS

Many extant species are at risk to go ex:tinct, This impending loss of species is likely to cause changes in future ecosystem functions. Eco logical components of diversity, such as dietary or habitat specializa tions, can he used to estimate the impact of extinctions on ecosystem functions. As an approach to estimate the impact of future extinctions , we tested interdependency between ecological and taxonomic change ba sed on current predictions of extinction rates in primates, We analyze d the ecological characteristics of extant primate faunas having speci es in various categories of endangerment of extinction and forecasted the future primate faunas as if they were paleontological faunas. Pred icting future faunas combines the wealth of ecological information on living primates with large, fossil record-like changes in diversity. P redicted extinction patterns of living primates in Africa, Asia, Madag ascar, and South America show that changes in ecology differ among the regions in ways that are not reducible to taxonomic measures. The eco logical effects of primate extinctions are initially least severe in S outh America and larger in Asia and Africa. Disproportionately larger ecological changes are projected for Madagascar. The use of taxonomy a s a proxy for ecology can mislead when estimating competence of future primate ecosystems.