Abstract
We evaluated the structure of intrapopulation howler monkey-plant interactions by focusing on the plant species consumed by different sex and age classes in continuous and fragmented forests in southern Mexico. For this we used network analysis to evaluate the impact of fragmentation on howler population traits and on resource availability and food choice. A total of 37 tree and liana species and seven plant items (bark, immature fruits, flowers, mature fruits, immature leaves, mature leaves and petioles) were consumed, but their relative consumption varied according to sex and age classes and habitat type. Overall, adult females consumed the greatest number of plant species and items while infants and juveniles the lowest. For both continuous and fragmented forests, we found a nested diet for howler monkey-plant networks: diets of more selective monkeys represent subsets of the diets of other individuals. Nestedness was likely due to the high selectivity of early life stages in specific food plants and items, which contrasts with the generalized foraging behaviour of adults. Information on the extent to which different plant species and primate populations depend on such interactions in different habitats will help to make accurate predictions about the potential impact of disturbances on plant-animal interaction networks.
Highlights
Trophic interactions among species constitute a central topic in ecology (Petchey, Morin & Olff, 2009)
We found that important food resources, including plant species and items, changed with habitat type, and age and sex classes indicating that forest fragmentation affects the feeding behaviour and level of resource selectivity of howler monkey populations in our study sites
Fragments and continuous forest shared 50% of the 10 tree species with the greatest importance value index (IVI), all of which are consumed by howler monkeys (Table 2)
Summary
Trophic interactions among species constitute a central topic in ecology (Petchey, Morin & Olff, 2009). Often within the same population we can find both more selective (those that feed off a few plant species) or more opportunistic During the development and growth of an organism, food requirements often change quantitatively and qualitatively principally because of metabolic costs, sex- and age-related preferences and foraging ability (Stevenson, Pineda & Samper, 2005). Consumer growth can be accompanied by shifts in habitat use, which may result in changes in food availability, constraining the consumer capacity to exploit different types of resources (Bolnick et al, 2003; Petchey, Morin & Olff, 2009). When preferred resources are scarce, individuals can eat unutilized resources (Marshall & Wrangham, 2007; Araújo et al, 2008; Araújo et al, 2010; Araújo, Bolnick & Layman, 2011)
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