4. Discussion
This study, as expected, provides
scientific evidence and information to identify bioclimate, land use,
and human-induced activity (population density) variables that have
significantly shaped, and would drive, macaques’ diversity and
geographic distribution trajectories from the Pleistocene to the 2050s
of the Quaternary. In addition to demonstrating how macaques have been
evolutionarily changed in geographic distribution during the epoch, the
results also provide scientific guidelines to amend the existing
conservation strategies and management for macaques in the years to
come, referring to their future geographical shifting directions and
survival prospects in mainland East Asia, which would be shaped by the
two greenhouse emissions scenarios (SSP2 and SSP5).