Neotropical Primates

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve has terra firma forest and seasonally-flooded forest (várzea) typical of the western lowland Amazon. It is very biodiverse and its natural resources are important for local populations and for subsistence and commercial hunters. In January 2013 and February 2016, we made two rapid surveys to assess population densities and biomass and evaluate habitat characteristics of the previously unstudied primate community at Katakari in the western part of the reserve. We surveyed six line transects and calculated density estimates using the Distance program. We also estimated crude and metabo-lized biomass for each primate species and the primate community as a whole. To characterize habitat in the area, we surveyed 9 km of strip transects (10 m width), collecting data on the abundance of tree species previously identified as food resources for the primates. We detected 11 primate species along 40.06 km of transect walks and estimated total primate density for the six species with sufficient detections at 164.9 ind/km². Large-headed capuchins (Sapajus macrocephalus) had the highest density at 63.6 ind/ km². We estimated crude primate biomass to be 534.8 kg/km² and metabolized primate biomass at 401.32 kg/km². We recorded 1,279 trees from 14 families, 28 genera and 43 species. The most common families were Sapotaceae and Fabaceae. The most common species were Inga spp., Attalea platerata and Chrysophyllum oliviforme. Primate densities and biomass were similar to those found in other areas of Pacaya Samiria. We found no correlation between primate diversity and tree DBH, height or crown projection, suggesting that habitat structure in the area may not be a determinant of primate diversity. As one of the most diverse in the world, the primate community in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is a priority for primate conservation in Peru. Resumen: La Reserva Nacional Pacaya Samiria presenta ecosistemas de bosque estacionalmente inundable, varzea y bosque no inundable de tierra firme, típicos de tierras bajas de la Amazonía occidental. Es muy biodiverso y es una importante fuente de recursos naturales para las poblaciones locales para la caza de subsistencia y comercial. Realizamos dos salidas de campo en enero de 2013 y febrero de 2016 en el sector Katakari, en la parte occidental de la Reserva, para estimar las densidades de las especies de primates y su biomasa y evaluar las características del hábitat. Este lugar no presenta estudios previos de la comuni-dad de primates. Evaluamos seis transectos lineales y calculamos la densidad de primates utilizando el programa Distance. Tam-bién calculamos la biomasa bruta y metabolizada para cada especie de primate y para toda la comunidad de primates en general. Para caracterizar el hábitat, recorrimos 9 km de transectos de banda (10 m de ancho), recolectando datos sobre la abundancia de especies arbóreas previamente identificadas como recursos alimenticios utilizados por los primates. Detectamos la presencia de 11 especies de primates a lo largo de 40.06 km de transectos y estimamos la densidad total de primates para las seis especies con detecciones suficientes para análisis en 164.9 ind/km 2. Los machine negro (Sapajus macrocephalus), tuvieron la densidad más alta con 63.6 ind/km 2. Estimamos la biomasa cruda de los primates en 538.8 kg/km 2 y la biomasa metabolizada en 401.32 kg/km 2. Registramos 1279 árboles distribuidos en 14 familias, 28 géneros y 43 especies. Las familias más comunes fueron Sapotaceae y Fabaceae. Las especies más comunes fueron Inga spp, Attalea platerata y Chrysophyllum oliviforme. Las densidades y biomasa de los primates registrados fueron similares a los encontrados en otras áreas de la reserva. No encontramos ninguna correlación entre la diversidad de primates y el DAP del árbol, la altura o la amplitud de la copa; lo que sugiere que la estructura del hábitat en el área puede no ser un factor determinante en la diversidad de los primates. Como uno de los más diversos en el mundo, la comunidad de primates en la reserva es una prioridad de conservación en el Perú.

Revista Peruana de Biología, 2016

La Reserva de Biósfera del Noroeste (RBN) alberga por lo menos 22 especies de mamíferos medianos y grandes entre las cuales se encuentran los primates Alouatta palliata aequatorialis y Cebus albifrons aequatorialis. Los estimados previos de la densidad poblacional de A. p. aequatorialis varían de 2.3‒8.6 ind/km2 en 1983 a 17‒19 ind/km2 en 2005 y 2006, respectivamente. Mientras que para C. a. aequatorialis no existen estimados poblacionales para la RBN. Para calcular la densidad poblacional de estas dos especies instalamos seis transectos lineales en 10.5 km2 dentro del Parque Nacional Cerros de Amotape (perteneciente a la RBN) de agosto del 2012 a marzo del 2013. En base a 112.3 km de transectos se obtuvo una densidad poblacional de 8.3 ± 3.6 ind/km2 para A. p. aequatorialis; sin embargo, por el reducido número de avistamientos de Cebus albifrons aequatorialis solo se pudo calcular el tamaño de grupo que varió de tres a 12 individuos y la tasa de encuentro de 0.3 ind/km. A pesar que...

Biotropica, 2000

Data on fruit abundance and ecological overlap among Ateles belzebuth, Lagothrix lagothricha, Cebus apella, and Alouatta seniculus were gathered during 13 months at Tinigua National Park (Colombia), in an effort to test the following hypotheses concerning competition for fruits. Coexistence is possible because: (1) during periods when fruit availability is limited, the species utilize different resources; and (2) the species have different fruit preferences independent of fruit production in the forest. Differences were found in resource use (diet and habitat) for all four species. Despite these differences, all four devoted large proportions of time feeding on fruit. Fruit abundance influenced their activity patterns. Ninety percent of all interspecific aggressive interactions (N ϭ 69) were seen in fruiting trees. The first hypothesis was best supported, given that all species significantly increased their intake of the vegetative parts of plants during periods of fruit scarcity. Fruit partitioning during periods of scarcity was observed clearly only for one pair of species (C. apella and L. lagothricha). In general, the second hypothesis was not supported as a mechanism for reducing competition because most fruit species were consumed by more than one primate species. Fruit preferences, however, may be particularly important in explaining differences in niche overlap between the most ecologically similar species: A. belzebuth relied heavily on the fruits of one palm species (Oenocarpus bataua) during periods of fruit scarcity and abundance, while L. lagothricha completely ignored this fruit.

Primates are among the most observable and best studied vertebrate order in tropical forest regions, with widespread attention dedicated to the feeding ecology of wild populations. In particular, primates play a key role as frugivores and seed-dispersal agents for a myriad of tropical plants. Sampling effort by primatologists, however, has been unequally distributed, hampering quantitative comparisons of primate diets. We provide the first systematic review of primate diets, with an emphasis on frugivory, using a comprehensive compilation of 290 unique primate dietary studies from 164 localities in 17 countries across the entire Neotropical realm. We account for sampling effort (standardised as hours) in comparing the richness of fruiting plants recorded in primate diets, and the relative contribution of frugivory to the overall diet in relation to key life-history traits, such as body mass. We find strong support for the long-held hypothesis, based on Kay's Threshold, that body size imposes an upper limit on insectivory and a lower limit on folivory, and therefore that frugivory is most important at intermediate body sizes. However, the upper body mass limit of extant neotropical primates, truncated by the post-Pleistocene megafaunal overkill, has implications for the extent of the frugivory-folivory continuum in extinct lineages. Contemporary threats faced by the largest primates serve as a further warning that the feeding ecology and diet of all neotropical primates remain severely undersampled with regard to the composition and richness of fruits consumed. Indeed, frugivorous primates expected to have the most species-rich plant diets are amongst those most poorly sampled, exposing implications for our current understanding of primate-plant interaction networks.

ENVIRONMENTAL SMOKE, 2018

Forest fragmentation favours the propagation of some arboreal primate species that can alter the floristic composition of a community. This process may be associated with the loss of seed dispersants. In this work we propose to identify if the presence of frugivorous primates of medium and large size (Sapajus flavius and Alouatta belzebul) can influence forest diversity and structure. Further, we ask if the size of the fragment affects the availability of resources for these primates. Three fragments were studied in the Atlantic Forest of the State of Paraíba, Brazil, located in the municipalities of Sapé, Mamanguape, Rio Tinto, and Mataraca. In each area 25 plots of 50 x 4 m were delimited, randomly distributed along trails and transects. All trees with chest-high circumferences (CAP) above 12 cm found within the plots were marked with ribbons, and numbered continuously. A total of 114 plant species were documented in the Pacatuba Forest, 79 in the Asplan Forest, and 97 in the " Guaribas " (Sema III) Biological Reserve (REBIO) Forest. According to the Chao and Jacknife estimators, the REBIO Guaribas Forest can present more species than recorded in the present investigation. Species Tapirira guianensis, Protium giganteum and Protium heptaphyllum are the most abundant in the Asplan, Pacatuba and Sema III Forests, respectively. In the REBIO Guaribas Forest, the Shannon diversity index was (H') = 3.75, the Alpha-Fisher index was = 26.57 and the Simpson index (1-D) was = 0.90. Pacatuba was the forest fragment with the highest index of diversity (H') = 375, Alpha-Fischer = 33.74 and Simpson (1-D) = 0.95. Pacatuba and REBIO Guaribas Forsts possess greater Beta diversity. The results suggest that local and historical factors possibly increase Beta diversity, contributing to the increase in resources used as food by primates. Therefore, the presence of primates of medium and large size in the Pacatuba Forest may affect the diversity of resources, contributing to the dispersion of large fruits and seeds. The presence of primates of medium and large size can thus contribute to the preservation of floristic diversity in forest fragments.

Experientia, 1987

Les for6ts ombrophiles tropicales: les 616ments nutritifs, sont-ils r6ellement un facteur critique? Nat. Ress. 17 (1981) 8-15. 24 Kira, T., Community architecture and organic matter dynamics in tropical lowland rain forests of Southeast Asia with special reference to Pasoh Forest, West Malaysia, in: Tropical Trees as Living Systems. Eds P. B. Tomlinson and M. H. Zimmermann, 1978. 25 Klinge, H., Bilanzierung yon Hauptn~ihrstoffen im t3kosystem tropischer Regenw/itder (Manaus)-Vorl/iufige Daten. Biogeographica 7 (1976) 5%77. 26 Klinge, H., Preliminary data on nutrient release from decomposing leaf litter in a neotropical rain forest. Amazoniana 6 (1977a) 196-. 202. 27 Klinge, H., Fine litter production and nutrient return to the soil in three natural forest stands in eastern Amazonia. Geol. Ecol. Trop. 1 (1977b) 159-167. 28 Klinge, H., and Rodrigues, W.A., Litter production in an area of Amazonian terra firme forest.

International Journal of Primatology, 1997

I studied a primate community on a tropical rainforest island, in the northernmost area of the Brazilian Amazonia. While walking through six distinct habitats along a 12-km trail, running toward the center of the island-a remote undisturbed area-I collected data on the use of the different forest types and forest strata by the primate community and the formation of either mixed groups or species assemblages. Five species are present: Cebus olivaceus, C. apella, Saimiri sciureus, Ateles belzubuth, and Alouatta seniculus. They seemed to be habitat generalists, using most habitat types. The five species used the higher strata more significantly, probably because Maraca does not present well-defined forest floors, which could be a result of being located in the transition between the great areas of savannah and the Amazonian seasonally dry forests. The five species all formed some polyspecific associations, which involved sharing the available food resource. Mixed groups were significantly more frequent and therefore possibly more important to Saimiri, which was not the case in relation to the other four species. Assemblages, defined as the presence in the same clumped resource, without coordinated activity, of < 3 primate species, were recorded primarily in fruiting fig trees. I suggest that assemblages are impelled by food constraints, forcing cofeeding in large seasonal resources, highlighting the ecological importance of figs to these primates. Linear regression models show that the number of 132 Mendes Pontes feeding bouts in each habitat type is positively related to the number of fruiting trees exploited, but the density of these fruit trees, diversity of plant species, tree height, and total basal area of each habitat type have no relationship to feeding.

In human-modified tropical landscapes, the survival of arboreal vertebrates, particularly primates, depends on their plant dietary diversity. Here, we assessed diversity of plants included in the diet of Costa Rican non-human primates, CR-NHP (i.e.Alouatta palliata palliata,Ateles geoffroyi,Cebus imitator, andSaimiri oerstedii) inhabiting different habitat types across the country. Specifically, we assessed by analyzing 37 published and unpublished datasets: (i) richness and dietary α-plant diversity, (ii) the β-diversity of dietary plant species and the relative importance of plant species turnover and nestedness contributing to these patterns, and (iii) the main ecological drivers of the observed patterns in dietary plant . Diet data were available for 34Alouatta, 16Cebus, 8Ateles, and 5Saimirigroups. Overall dietary plant species richness was higher inAlouatta(476 spp.), followed byAteles(329 spp.),Cebus(236 spp.), andSaimiri(183 spp.). However, rarefaction curves showed that α-d...

Revista Brasileira de Zoologia, 2008

Howler monkeys (Alouatta Lacèpéde, 1799) are folivores-frugivores with flexible diets depending on conditions. Here, we compare the diets of Alouatta caraya (Humboldt, 1812) in two riparian forests (island and mainland), in Porto Rico region, Upper Paraná River, Southern Brazil. Howlers were followed from October 2004 to September 2005 in the riparian forest of a 1,050 ha island and in the continuous riparian forest on the mainland (left bank of the river). The "scan sampling" method with instantaneous samples every 15 minutes was used. Besides vines, diet breadth was similar: 17 species consumed on the island versus 16 species on the mainland. Both consumed leaves followed by fruits more than any other food type (leaves: island -65%, mainland -49%, fruits: island -24%, mainland -46%). Even though the plant Cecropia pachystachya Trécul is less abundant in the mainland it was the item most consumed in both locations all year long, which suggests its importance for the howlers. Diet also varied both seasonally and between the island and mainland, apparently following changes in local abundance of each item and due to plant phenologies.