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This study investigated how solar radiation, seasonal high-quality food resources and stable foods shape the altitudinal distribution of the highest-altitude primate Rhinopithecus bieti, to uncover its survival strategies. Through systematic environmental data collection and three-year field tracking of a wild group in the Lasha Mountains, northwest Yunnan, China, we identified consistent seasonal patterns: spring in low-altitude habitats, summer at highest elevations, and intermediate ranges during autumn\/winter. Statistical modeling revealed seasonally shifting environmental dependencies. Summer showed no resource limitations, while autumn introduced solar exposure and mature leaves as positive synergistic factors (50% model explanatory power). Winter exhibited peak environmental pressure (80%), with solar and buds becoming critical, though revealing a trade-off between foraging and thermoregulation. Spring demonstrated the strongest environmental coupling (86%), where solar and high-quality food showed significant positive synergy, enabling physical recovery. The species displays remarkable ecological plasticity, with solar being the core cold-season driver. The winter-to-spring transition from resource trade-off to synergy reflects dynamic behavioral adaptations to seasonal climate and nutritional bottlenecks, offering new insights into primate survival strategies in extreme environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16152280","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T06:11:42Z","timestamp":1784787102000},"page":"2280","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Seasonal Trade-Offs and Synergies Between Food Resources and Solar Radiation Shape Altitudinal Ranging in Black-and-White Snub-Nosed Monkeys"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2128-7894","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hao-Han","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Research Center of Natural History and Culture, Qujing Normal University, Qujing 655011, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2765-6718","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yan-Peng","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7190-9455","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhi-Pang","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9313-7916","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liang-Wei","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory for Forestry Disaster Warning and Control in Yunnan, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China"},{"name":"Yunling Black-and-White Snub-Nosed Monkey Observation and Research Station of Yunnan Province, Dali 671003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8770-8148","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cyril C.","family":"Grueter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Human Sciences, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford 02138, UK"},{"name":"International Centre of Biodiversity and Primate Conservation, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia"},{"name":"Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia"},{"name":"Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, University of Rwanda, Kigali P.O. Box 4285, Rwanda"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2697-2268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Na","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Yunling Black-and-White Snub-Nosed Monkey Observation and Research Station of Yunnan Province, Dali 671003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4951-7524","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wen","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Yunling Black-and-White Snub-Nosed Monkey Observation and Research Station of Yunnan Province, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"International Centre of Biodiversity and Primate Conservation, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Three Parallel Rivers Region of China, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"The Provincial Innovation Team of Biodiversity Conservation and Utility of the Three Parallel Rivers Region from Dali University, Dali 671003, China"},{"name":"Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Dali University, Dali 671003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1392","article-title":"The adaptive evolution of the Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) phenotype to environment factors","volume":"38","author":"Lan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acta Ecol. 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