Arboreal monkeys facilitate foraging of terrestrial frugivores

Autor: Lucia L. Tórrez-Herrera, Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller, Ben T. Hirsch, Mark N. Grote, Roland Kays, J. Carter Loftus, Linnea Worsøe Havmøller, Damien Caillaud, Shauhin E. Alavi, Margaret C. Crofoot
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Havmøller, L W, Loftus, J C, Havmøller, R W, Alavi, S E, Caillaud, D, Grote, M N, Hirsch, B T, Tórrez-Herrera, L L, Kays, R & Crofoot, M C 2021, ' Arboreal monkeys facilitate foraging of terrestrial frugivores ', Biotropica, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 1685-1697 . https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.13017
ISSN: 1744-7429
0006-3606
DOI: 10.1111/btp.13017
Popis: Terrestrial animals feed on fruit dropped by arboreal frugivores in tropical forests around the world, but it remains unknown whether the resulting spatial associations of these animals are coincidental or intentionally maintained. On Barro Colorado Island, Panama, we used a combination of acoustic playback experiments, remote camera monitoring, and GPS tracking to quantify the frequency of such interactions, determine who initiates and maintains spatial associations, and test whether terrestrial animals adopt a strategy of acoustic eavesdropping to locate fruit patches created by foraging primates. Indeed, 90% of fruits collected in fruit fall traps had tooth marks of arboreal frugivores, and terrestrial frugivores visited fruit trees sooner following visits by GPS-collared monkeys. While our play back experiments were insufficient to support the hypothesis that terrestrial frugivores use auditory cues to locate food dropped by arboreal primates, analyses of movement paths of capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus), spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), and coatis (Nasua narica) reveal that observed patterns of interspecific attraction are not merely a byproduct of mutual attraction to shared resources. Coatis were significantly more likely to initiate close encounters with arboreal primates than vice versa and maintained these associations by spending significantly longer periods at fruiting trees when collared primates were present. Our results demonstrate that terrestrial frugivores are attracted to arboreal primates, likely because they increase local resource availability. Primates are often among the first species in a habitat to be extirpated by hunting; our results suggest that their loss may have unanticipated consequences for the frugivore community. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: