4.4 Deficiency
This study is a preliminary try to
systematically provides an evolutionary change procedure of geographic
distribution of the macaques in mainland East Asia from the Pleistocene
to the 2050s during the Quaternary, associated with remarkable climate
and bio-human impact factors. MaxEnt models illustrate progressive
changes based on geographic records of fossils and extant species.
Evolutionarily, macaques reached their distribution peak during the
Plietstoce in East Asia, including the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and
Japan(Li et al., 2020). Thus, the
available fossil records may not reveal their real distribution profiles
in LIG and LGM (Figure S1 and Figure 1). On the other hand, the extant
macaque species on mainland Eas Asia demonstrate a broad geographic
distribution, and the MaxEnt model only projects the basal ecological
niches based on present-only distribution points; thus, the current
distribution profile (Figure 2A) of the creatures may be narrow than
their natural dispersion. Moreover, because of the incredible variety in
ecology, habitat, and conservation statuses, the geographical change and
conservation models proposed for the 2050s (Figs. 2B and 2C) may not
have represented their survival perspective shortly regarding a specific
species within the genus.