Increased folivory in brown spider monkeys Ateles hybridus living in a fragmented forest in Colombia

Ag De Luna,A Montes,A Link,F Alfonso,A Di Fiore,L Mendieta

doi:10.3354/esr00787

Abstract

Increased folivory in brown spider monkeys Ateles hybridus living in a fragmented forest in Colombia

Highlights

Habitat loss and fragmentation are globally pervasive processes that have increased in recent decades in the remaining tropical forests of the world (Achard et al 2002, Fahrig 2003)
Amongst Neotropical rainforest vertebrates, spider monkeys are one of the most threatened taxa (IUCN 2015) and one of the first to go locally extinct in fragmented landscapes (Michalski & Peres 2005)
We provide evidence on how Critically Endangered brown spider monkeys are able to cope with the challenges of forest fragmentation and living at high population densities, and we assess the importance of the availability of fleshy fruits on their dietary composition

Summary

Introduction

Habitat loss and fragmentation are globally pervasive processes that have increased in recent decades in the remaining tropical forests of the world (Achard et al 2002, Fahrig 2003). Amongst Neotropical rainforest vertebrates, spider monkeys (genus Ateles) are one of the most threatened taxa (IUCN 2015) and one of the first to go locally extinct in fragmented landscapes (Michalski & Peres 2005) Their long reproductive cycles (females begin reproducing at the age of 7 to 9 yr and have a single offspring every 3 yr) make them vulnerable to drivers of population decline such as habitat loss (Link et al 2013), hunting (Franzen 2006) and disease (Holzmann et al 2010). Spider monkeys are able to cope with seasonal variation in fruit availability by adjusting foraging subgroup size (thereby reducing direct competition for feeding resources) and/or by adjusting their diets to include a larger proportion of other complementary and more readily available items, such as young leaves (Di Fiore et al 2008)

Methods

Results

Conclusion