The primary purpose of the Man and the Biosphere Program is the sustainable development of both the economy and nature conservation activities. Although the effectiveness of eco-tourism to reach this goal has been proposed, due to the lack of long-term monitoring data and a model species, there has been no obvious mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy. This study explored the effectiveness of the sustainable development policy of HMBR based on 30 years data of monitoring the Tibetan macaque, local human population, visitors, and annual ecotourism income in Huangshan by estimating species habitat suitability and the impact of ecotourism. The results showed increases in the income for the local human population, the number of visitors, and annual eco-tourism. Simultaneously, the reserve’s Tibetan macaque population size and suitable habitat areas increased. The macaques expanded their habitat to the low-altitude buffer zone (400–800 m), an area with lower eco-tourism disturbance. Scenic spots had a significant negative impact on habitat suitability (the substantially increased contributions of scenic spots from 0.71% to 32.88%). Our results and methods provide a suitable evaluation framework for monitoring the sustainable development and effectiveness of eco-tourism and wildlife conservation in Man and the Biosphere reserves.

Sleeping-site selection is a critical decision-making process in animals, influenced by evolutionary pressures. However, the key factors controlling this choice under group demography, and how these vary seasonally, remain poorly understood. This study investigated the selection of arboreal versus terrestrial sleeping sites and the underlying decision-making processes in a free-ranging group of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan, China, across mating (July–January) and non-mating (February–April) seasons. Generally, Tibetan macaques slept arboreally during mating season (July–September), switched to terrestrial sites afterward (October–March), and returned to trees in the following April. As for the decision-making, females consistently played a central role, initiating collective movements to arboreal sites more frequently and attracting more followers during the mating season, and joining the collective movements earlier across all seasons. Decision-making rules also varied seasonally. Females and middle-aged/older individuals mainly initiated movements to arboreal sites during the mating season, whereas terrestrial movements were led primarily by older individuals, with high social centrality attracting more followers. In the non-mating season, no specific social traits predicted initiators across sleeping sites, though females consistently attracted more followers and joined movements earlier. In terrestrial movements specifically, older individuals joined later, whereas highly socially central individuals joined earlier. Our research reveals that the sleeping-site selection decisions of Tibetan macaques are influenced by their matrilineal group structure. This study provides insights into the ecological adaptability of primates, demonstrating how dynamic decision-making supports survival in seasonal environments among social animals.