Linder et al. (2024) recently argued that protecting red colobus deserves priority attention, serving as flagships of African tropical forest conservation strategies. We appreciate and support the authors’ efforts to build a plan to conserve red colobus and their habitats. In this correspondence, we provide a complementary perspective, arguing that conservation attention should be extended to diverse communities of various taxa rather than a single-species group.

Linder et al. (2024) consider red colobus as barometers of African tropical forest health and hunting pressure. This generalization should be limited to the geographical range of red colobus and not applied to all African tropical forests, which are more extensive. In addition, although red colobus are threatened by gun hunting—a method that is increasingly used and severely impacts arboreal species—they cannot be considered barometers of other hunting pressures, such as snaring. Snare hunters vastly outnumber gun hunters in some regions of West and Central Africa (Fa & Brown, 2009). They put considerable pressure on diverse wildlife communities across African tropical forests.

We advocate for a more equitable distribution of conservation attention across diverse taxa to develop conservation strategies that adequately represent the complexity of biodiversity and ecological functions. Diverse wildlife communities maintain the resilience of desirable ecosystem states (Elmqvist et al., 2003) and secure various ecosystem functions and services (Harrison et al., 2014). Thus, conservation strategies and priorities should be based on entire communities rather than focusing solely on individual species or genera. Focusing on a particular group of indicator species presenting specific ecological requirements oversimplifies complex ecosystems. This neglects the rich interactions among various wildlife species that must be preserved to maintain functioning ecosystems.

As an inspiration for mammals, Fonteyn et al. (2023) identified six zoogeographic districts (or species assemblages) across central African forests, separately for carnivores, primates, and artiodactyls. Within the primate communities, red colobus are part of the significant indicator species of several biogeographical districts but should not be considered alone. The compilation of species lists from wildlife and bushmeat-related surveys allows for the assessment of the conservation status of each district and its ongoing threats. Compiled species lists constitute a valuable tool for assessing the presence or loss of individual species, providing guidance for long-term conservation programs.

Verschueren et al. (2024) developed another general biodiversity analysis, expanding from the potential of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) as a flagship species to its role as an umbrella species for designing area-based conservation strategies. Although these authors acknowledge the limitation of using flagship species to represent and protect biodiversity, they also recognize the importance of species-centric approaches to generate public attention. Therefore, they propose a middle ground integrating a species-centric approach with area-based conservation strategies to enhance progress toward biodiversity goals by considering overall amphibian, bird, and mammal species richness in different ecoregions.

While red colobus conservation is undoubtedly critical, adopting more integrative conservation priorities is imperative. We recommend addressing broader ecological assemblages and ensuring balanced attention among taxa to achieve effective and sustainable conservation outcomes.

Linder 等人（2024 年）最近认为，保护红疣猴值得优先关注，作为非洲热带森林保护战略的旗舰。我们赞赏并支持作者为制定保护红疣猴及其栖息地的计划所做的努力。在这篇通信中，我们提供了一个互补的观点，认为保护注意力应该扩展到各种分类群的不同群落，而不是单一物种组。

Linder 等人（2024 年）将红疣猴视为非洲热带森林健康和狩猎压力的晴雨表。这种概括应仅限于红疣猴的地理范围，而不是适用于所有非洲热带森林，因为这些森林的范围更广。此外，尽管红疣猴受到枪支狩猎的威胁——这种方法越来越多地使用并严重影响树栖物种——但它们不能被视为其他狩猎压力（如诱捕）的晴雨表。在西非和中非的一些地区，陷阱猎人的数量远远超过枪支猎人（Fa & Brown，2009）。它们给非洲热带森林中的不同野生动物群落带来了相当大的压力。

我们倡导在不同的分类群之间更公平地分配保护注意力，以制定充分代表生物多样性和生态功能复杂性的保护策略。多样化的野生动物群落维持了理想生态系统状态的复原力（Elmqvist et al.， 2003），并确保了各种生态系统功能和服务（Harrison et al.， 2014）。因此，保护战略和优先事项应基于整个群落，而不是仅关注单个物种或属。专注于满足特定生态要求的特定指示物种组过于简化了复杂的生态系统。这忽视了各种野生动物物种之间的丰富相互作用，这些相互作用必须得到保护才能维持生态系统的正常运转。

作为哺乳动物的灵感，Fonteyn 等人（2023 年）在中非森林中确定了六个动物地理区（或物种组合），分别用于食肉动物、灵长类动物和偶蹄类动物。在灵长类动物群落中，红疣猴是几个生物地理区的重要指示物种的一部分，但不应单独考虑。从野生动物和食用森林猎物相关调查中汇编物种清单，可以评估每个地区的保护状况及其持续威胁。汇编的物种清单是评估单个物种存在或损失的宝贵工具，为长期保护计划提供指导。

Verschueren 等人（2024 年）开发了另一项通用生物多样性分析，从猎豹 （Acinonyx jubatus） 作为旗舰物种的潜力扩展到其作为设计基于区域的保护策略的伞形物种的作用。尽管这些作者承认使用旗舰物种来代表和保护生物多样性的局限性，但他们也认识到以物种为中心的方法引起公众关注的重要性。因此，他们提出了一个中间地带，将以物种为中心的方法与基于区域的保护策略相结合，通过考虑不同生态区的整体两栖动物、鸟类和哺乳动物物种的丰富性来加快实现生物多样性目标的进展。

虽然红疣猴的保护无疑至关重要，但必须采取更综合的保护优先事项。我们建议解决更广泛的生态组合问题，并确保分类群之间的平衡关注，以实现有效和可持续的保护结果。