Abstract
Predicting variation in animal abundance across time and space has proven very difficult; however, a model exists to predict the biomass of small folivorous primates that has considerable correlative support. This model suggests that the protein-to-fiber ratio of leaves in a habitat can predict folivore biomass. Here we present an experimental test of this protein-to-fiber model to assess if the number of infant monkeys per female and group size can be predicted based on the leaf chemistry of a habitat. We expected regenerating forest in Kibale National Park, Uganda to have leaves with higher concentrations of crude protein and lower concentrations of fiber than old-growth forest trees, and consequently, we expected a greater number of infants per female in the folivorous red colobus ( Procolobus rufomitratus) with access to this area. As predicted, regenerating forests did have trees with leaves with high concentrations of protein and low concentrations of fiber, but there was no corresponding change in the demographic structure of red colobus groups. We also tested whether energy was a potential determinant of these parameters, but found no evidence for its importance. Our findings support recent studies that are critical of the protein-to-fiber model, which lead us to question the model's generality, particularly for conservation and management.
Highlights
Since animal populations are not distributed evenly across the landscape, a fundamental issue in ecology is determining what factors affect their density and distribution over space and time [1]
One possible explanation is that the protein-to fiber ratio of mature leaves in an area is correlated with the protein-to-fiber ratio of foods in general. This idea is supported by the fact that in a sample of leaves from Kibale National Park, Uganda, we found that the protein-to-fiber ratios of mature and young leaves were strongly correlated (r=0.837, P
We detected a difference in protein-to-fiber ratio between the two areas for all trees, as well as for the trees consumed by red colobus, with a higher protein-to-fiber ratio in the regenerating forest (Table 1)
Summary
Since animal populations are not distributed evenly across the landscape, a fundamental issue in ecology is determining what factors affect their density and distribution over space and time [1]. The importance of this issue has recently increased because of human-induced changes to the environment due to increased consumption and population growth [2,3,4]. A clear understanding of the factors influencing animal abundance and distributions is critical for the development of informed conservation and management plans. Understanding and predicting factors that affect the abundance of particular species have proven extremely difficult.
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