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What does it mean to be wild? Assessing human influence on the environments of nonhuman primate specimens in museum collections

Ecology and Evolution 2021 4 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 35 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Andrea R. Eller, Stephanie L. Canington, Sana T. Saiyed, Rita M. Austin, Courtney A. Hofman, Sabrina B. Sholts

Summary

This study examines whether primate specimens in museum collections were exposed to human-modified environments, which could confound research using them as proxies for 'wild' animals. Understanding historical human impacts on wildlife is relevant to interpreting baseline health and toxicology data in animals affected by pollution.

The degree to which human-modified environments may have impacted the lives of primates currently held in museum collections has been historically ignored, implicating unforeseen consequences for collection-based research. While unique effects related to commensalism with humans remain understudied, effects currently attributed to natural phenomena may, in fact, be related to anthropogenic pressures on unmanaged populations of primates.

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