Julio César Bicca-Marques discussed growing risk of infectious diseases for conservation of non-human primates
Photo: China Primate Society
Earlier in November, Professor Dr Júlio César Bicca-Marques, coordinator of the Undergraduate Research Program of PUCRS and Head Secretary of the International Primatological Society, took part in the 16th Annual Conference of the China Primate Society in Guiyang City, China. The lecturer was the only Latin American at the annual conference of the Chinese Society of Primatology, which congregates researchers from different parts of the world.
Bicca-Marques delivered the lecture Understanding the growing threat of infectious diseases to primate conservation. The researcher discussed the growing threat of infectious diseases (such as yellow fever, Ebola, pneumonia, herpes and other) to free-living non-human primates as economic activities shrink, reduce and ruin their natural habitats. “This risk has been observed especially in areas where the close contact with humans favors the transmission of our diseases to monkeys,” he says.
Photo: Personal archive
The visit to the event resulted in an invitation for Bicca-Marques to attend the International Biodiversity and Primate Conservation Center, which is still under construction, to be established at Dali University, in the Chinese city of Yunnan. “This initiative will facilitate the development of collaborative research with peers from China and around the world, and may involve students from Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution of Biodiversity”, he adds. Lastly, Bicca-Marques went to Northwest University, in Xi’an, to deliver a lecture on infectious diseases and primate conservation.
