Elevation gradients correlate with changes in several environmental conditions and are known to be related to animal abundance. Animals in regions with a naturally limited extent of lowland rainforest are expected to have evolved adaptations to intermediate elevations that provided a stable environment during their evolution. Since the lowland rainforest of Madagascar has a limited extent and suffers from increasing anthropogenic pressure, it is essential to understand how well species tolerate intermediate and high elevations. In this study, we aim to quantify the relationship between lemur abundance and elevation in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar. We correlated abundance data on 26 lemur species (10 genera), including 492 records from 26 studies, with elevation. We analysed the consistency of correlations across species with a meta‐analytical approach. We controlled for species’ body mass, elevational range and median elevation. We then ran generalised linear mixed models to determine whether lemur abundance was related to elevation, body mass, plant productivity and anthropogenic disturbance. Overall, the abundance of lemur species in Malagasy rainforests was negatively correlated with elevation, and species occupying broader elevational ranges showed stronger correlations. Body mass was not related to species’ tolerance of high elevations. Even though several lemur species are able to occupy the entire elevation gradient, the few remaining patches of lowland rainforests host lemur species at greater abundances than other sites. Abundance across species was negatively related to body mass, elevation and seasonality in plant productivity and positively related to plant productivity. Despite the ecological flexibility of many lemur species, the remnant patches of lowland rainforests host the highest levels of lemur abundance and are key to lemur conservation. It is crucial to preserve this priority habitat both for biodiversity conservation and for our understanding of lemur adaptations.

中文翻译：

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狐猴丰度的海拔梯度强调了马达加斯加低地雨林对地方性分类群保护的重要性

海拔梯度与几种环境条件的变化相关，并且已知与动物丰度有关。预计低地雨林自然有限地区的动物会进化出对中等海拔的适应性，从而在其进化过程中提供稳定的环境。由于马达加斯加的低地雨林面积有限，并且受到越来越大的人为压力，因此必须了解物种对中高海拔的耐受程度。在这项研究中，我们旨在量化马达加斯加东部雨林狐猴丰度与海拔之间的关系。我们将 26 种狐猴物种（10 属）的丰度数据与海拔相关联，其中包括来自 26 项研究的 492 条记录。我们使用元分析方法分析了跨物种相关性的一致性。我们控制了物种的体重、海拔范围和中位海拔。然后，我们运行广义线性混合模型，以确定狐猴丰度是否与海拔、体重、植物生产力和人为干扰有关。总体而言，马达加斯加雨林中狐猴物种的丰度与海拔呈负相关，占据更广泛海拔范围的物种表现出更强的相关性。体重与物种对高海拔的耐受性无关。尽管几种狐猴物种能够占据整个海拔梯度，但剩下的少数低地雨林斑块中的狐猴物种比其他地点的丰度更高。跨物种的丰度与体重呈负相关，植物生产力的海拔和季节性与植物生产力呈正相关。尽管许多狐猴物种具有生态灵活性，但低地雨林的残余斑块拥有最高水平的狐猴丰度，是狐猴保护的关键。保护这一优先栖息地对于生物多样性保护和我们对狐猴适应的理解至关重要。