Flower consumption, ambient temperature and rainfall modulate drinking behavior in a folivorous-frugivorous arboreal mammal

Water is vital for the survival of any species because of its key role in most physiological processes. However, little is known about the non-food-related water sources exploited by arboreal mammals, the seasonality of their drinking behavior and its potential drivers, including diet composition, temperature, and rainfall. We investigated this subject in 14 wild groups of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting small, medium, and large Atlantic Forest fragments in southern Brazil. We found a wide variation in the mean rate of drinking among groups (range = 0–16 records/day). Streams (44% of 1,258 records) and treeholes (26%) were the major types of water sources, followed by bromeliads in the canopy (16%), pools (11%), and rivers (3%). The type of source influenced whether howlers used a hand to access the water or not. Drinking tended to be evenly distributed throughout the year, except for a slightly lower number of records in the spring than in the other seasons, but it was unevenly distributed during the day. It increased in the afternoon in all groups, particularly during temperature peaks around 15:00 and 17:00. We found via generalized linear mixed modelling that the daily frequency of drinking was mainly influenced negatively by flower consumption and positively by weekly rainfall and ambient temperature, whereas fragment size and the consumption of fruit and leaves played negligible roles. Overall, we confirm the importance of preformed water in flowers to satisfy the howler’s water needs, whereas the influence of the climatic variables is compatible with the ‘thermoregulation/dehydration-avoiding hypothesis’. In sum, we found that irrespective of habitat characteristics, brown howlers seem to seek a positive water balance by complementing the water present in the diet with drinking water, even when it is associated with a high predation risk in terrestrial sources.Coordinación de la formación del personal de nivel superior/[2755/2010]/CAPES/BrasilNational Council for scientific and Technological Development/[303306/2013-0]/CNPq/BrasilNational Council for scientific and Technological Development/[304475/2018-1]/CNPq/BrasilNational Council for scientific and Technological Development/[140641/2016-5]/CNPq/BrasilUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Biologí

Global importance of Indigenous Peoples, their lands, and knowledge systems for saving the world's primates from extinction

Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved.Primates, represented by 521 species, are distributed across 91 countries primarily in the Neotropic, Afrotropic, and Indo-Malayan realms. Primates inhabit a wide range of habitats and play critical roles in sustaining healthy ecosystems that benefit human and nonhuman communities. Approximately 68% of primate species are threatened with extinction because of global pressures to convert their habitats for agricultural production and the extraction of natural resources. Here, we review the scientific literature and conduct a spatial analysis to assess the significance of Indigenous Peoples' lands in safeguarding primate biodiversity. We found that Indigenous Peoples' lands account for 30% of the primate range, and 71% of primate species inhabit these lands. As their range on these lands increases, primate species are less likely to be classified as threatened or have declining populations. Safeguarding Indigenous Peoples' lands, languages, and cultures represents our greatest chance to prevent the extinction of the world's primates.Peer reviewe

Primates in peril: the significance of Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for global primate conservation

Primates occur in 90 countries, but four—Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—harbor 65% of the world’s primate species (439) and 60% of these primates are Threatened, Endangered, or Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017-3). Considering their importance for global primate conservation, we examine the anthropogenic pressures each country is facing that place their primate populations at risk. Habitat loss and fragmentation are main threats to primates in Brazil, Madagascar, and Indonesia. However, in DRC hunting for the commercial bushmeat trade is the primary threat. Encroachment on primate habitats driven by local and global market demands for food and non-food commodities hunting, illegal trade, the proliferation of invasive species, and human and domestic-animal borne infectious diseases cause habitat loss, population declines, and extirpation. Modeling agricultural expansion in the 21st century for the four countries under a worst-case-scenario, showed a primate range contraction of 78% for Brazil, 72% for Indonesia, 62% for Madagascar, and 32% for DRC. These pressures unfold in the context of expanding human populations with low levels of development. Weak governance across these four countries may limit effective primate conservation planning. We examine landscape and local approaches to effective primate conservation policies and assess the distribution of protected areas and primates in each country. Primates in Brazil and Madagascar have 38% of their range inside protected areas, 17% in Indonesia and 14% in DRC, suggesting that the great majority of primate populations remain vulnerable. We list the key challenges faced by the four countries to avert primate extinctions now and in the future. In the short term, effective law enforcement to stop illegal hunting and illegal forest destruction is absolutely key. Long-term success can only be achieved by focusing local and global public awareness, and actively engaging with international organizations, multinational businesses and consumer nations to reduce unsustainable demands on the environment. Finally, the four primate range countries need to ensure that integrated, sustainable land-use planning for economic development includes the maintenance of biodiversity and intact, functional natural ecosystems

Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar

Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (bodymass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use

Cognitive Aspects of Within -Patch Foraging Decisions in Wild Diurnal and Nocturnal New World Monkeys

387 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000.In this dissertation, I examine the ability of free-ranging diurnal and nocturnal New World monkeys (black-chinned emperor tamarins, Saguinus imperator imperator, Weddell's saddleback tamarins, Saguinus fuscicollis weddelli; red titi monkeys, Callicebus cupreus cupreus; and Southern red-necked night monkeys, Aotus nigriceps ) to use visual cues, olfactory cues, spatial information, associative cues, landmark cues, and quantity information in making within-patch foraging decisions. This was accomplished through a controlled experimental field study conducted at the Zoobotanical Park of the Federal University of Acre (Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil) from August 1997 to July 1998. Analyses at the group level indicated that all four species were capable of learning the spatial distribution of food items within a patch and used this knowledge to return to previously exploited feeding sites. diurnal monkeys used visual cues to a greater extent than did night monkeys. Night monkeys, however, failed to show evidence of the use of olfactory cues more effectively than did emperor tamarins. In addition, when faced with conflicting spatial and perceptual information, all four species relied on visual or olfactory cues in selecting feeding sites. A comparison of the performances of emperor and saddleback tamarins when in and out of mixed-species association indicated that the dominant emperor tamarins may use information from the foraging behavior of saddlebacks to improve their searching efficiency. In contrast, saddlebacks performed better when out of association. Moreover, when forming mixed-species troops, both emperor and saddleback tamarins experienced costs of decreased time spent feeding and food intake. Analyses at the individual level indicated that among emperor and saddleback tamarins, group members may be classified as producers, scroungers, or opportunists, depending on their investment in searching for food. The adoption of these strategies is likely to be determined by factors such as social status and age. Differences in cognitive skills are unlikely to have an important role in the individual choice of foraging strategies. In addition, saddlebacks were more tolerant than emperors of sharing food rewards with other group members. Only adult male emperor tamarins, however, deferred to immatures and breeding adult females at feeding sites.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Assessing the influence of biotic, abiotic, and social factors on the physiological stress of a large Neotropical primate in Atlantic Forest fragments

Wildlife physiological responses to environmental and human-related stressors provide useful clues on animal welfare. Non-invasive biomarkers, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM), allow researchers to assess whether variations in habitat quality, behavior, and climate influence the animals' physiological stress. We examined the role of fragment size, ambient temperature, ripe fruit availability and consumption, percentage of records moving, sex, female reproductive state, and group composition as predictors of the level of fGCM in adult brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting three small (90 ha) Atlantic Forest fragments in southern Brazil. We collected bimonthly behavioral data and fecal samples from adult individuals over three years, and used a multimodel inference framework to identify the main predictors of fGCM. We found that the mean (±SD) fGCM in the study groups ranged from 57 ± 49 ng/g to 93 ± 58 ng/g, which were within the known range for howler monkeys. We found 10 best models including five of the 17 tested variables. Sex and reproductive state were the only variables included in all these models. We found that fGCM was higher in nursing females (mean ± SD = 104 ± 73 ng/g) than in non-nursing females (64 ± 55 ng/g) and males (53 ± 40 ng/g, P  0.05). We conclude that factors related to the energetic balance of individuals play major roles in modulating the physiological stress of brown howler monkeys. Future studies should investigate the consequences of higher levels of stress hormones on howler monkey health and demography.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior/[Finance Code 001; PNPD grant # 2755/2010]/CAPES/BrasilUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Biologí

Two cases of polydactyly in wild brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans)

We report the first two cases of polydactyly in an atelid species: (a) a wild ca. 16 week-old infant female presenting seven digits in both feet and other bone malformations, and (b) a wild newborn male presenting six digits in both feet with the extra digit fused to the hallux.Fil: Silva, Moira Ansolch da. Mantenedouro de Fauna Rincao do Araticum; BrasilFil: Steinberg, Eliana Ruth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Paskulin, Giorgio A.. GENEX Instituto de Exames Geneticos ; BrasilFil: Teixeira, Fabio dos Santos. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Jesus, Anamelia de Souza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mudry, Marta Dolores. Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Bicca Marques, Julio Cesar. Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasi

Games academics play and their consequences: how authorship, h-index and journal impact factors are shaping the future of academia

Being a researcher is a highly competitive profession. The paper examines how authorship, h-index of individuals and journal impact factors are being used and abused, speculating on the consequences of the continued use of these metrics. Even though an extensive body of literature criticizes their use, the indices are widely used in important and career-determining ways. A recent analysis suggests that post-publication peer review is prone to error, biased by the reviewer’s perception of journal impact factor. The h-index is defined as the maximum value of h such that the given author/journal has published ‘h’ papers that have each been cited at least h times

Yellow fever threatens Atlantic Forest primates

Emerging infectious diseases were cited as a cause of population decline of wild nonhuman primates (NHPs) by A. Estrada and collaborators in their review “Impending extinction crisis of the world’s primates” (Science Advances, 18 January, e1600946). Concurrent with the publication of this review, an epidemic of jungle yellow fever (YF) in the Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil is affecting humans and NHPs alike, challenging health and wildlife conservation authorities and professionals. From December 2016 to 18 May 2017, YF has killed 264 people (42 additional deaths are under investigation) and caused, at least, 5,000 NHP deaths (1). Our field estimates sum many thousands of NHP deaths. Humans have access to an effective vaccine and about 85% of infected unvaccinated people are asymptomatic or develop a mild form of YF (2). Despite this resistance, there are 758 confirmed human cases and a further 622 cases under investigation, about 63% of them in regions of recommended vaccination prior to the current epidemic.Fil: Bicca Marques, Julio Cesar. Pontificia Universidade Catolica Do Rio Grande Do Sul. Facultad de Biociencias; BrasilFil: Calegaro Marques, Claudia. Pontificia Universidade Catolica Do Rio Grande Do Sul. Facultad de Biociencias; BrasilFil: Rylands, Anthony. Conservation International; Estados UnidosFil: Strier, Karen B.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Mittermeier, Russel. Conservation International; Estados UnidosFil: De Almeida, Marco Antonio. Secretaria Estadual da Saúde do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: De Castro, Paulo Henrique. Centro Nacional de Primatas; BrasilFil: Chaves, Oscar M.. Pontificia Universidade Catolica Do Rio Grande Do Sul. Facultad de Biociencias; BrasilFil: Ferraz, Luis P.. Associação Mico leão dourado; BrasilFil: Fortes, Vanessa B.. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; BrasilFil: Hirano, Zelinda M. B.. Fundação Universidade Regional de Blumenau; BrasilFil: Jerusalinsky, Leandro. Centro Nacional de Pesquisa E Conservação de Primatas B; BrasilFil: Kowalewski, Miguel Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia". Estación Biológica de Usos Múltiples (Sede Corrientes); ArgentinaFil: Martins, Wadney P.. Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros; BrasilFil: De Melo, Fabiano. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Mendes, Sergio L.. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Neves, Leonardo G.. Instituto Uiraçu; BrasilFil: Passos,Fernando C.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Port Carvalho, Marcio. Instituto Florestal, Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Ribeiro, Soraya. Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidad; BrasilFil: Romano, Alessandro. Universidade do Brasília; BrasilFil: Ruiz Miranda, Carlos. Universidade Estadual Do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro; BrasilFil: Dos Santos, Elisandro O.. Zoológico Municipal de canoas; BrasilFil: De Souza Jr, Julio Cesar. Centro de Pesquisas Biológicas de Indaial; BrasilFil: Teixeira, Danilo S.. Universidade do Brasília; Brasi

Fermented food consumption in wild nonhuman primates and its ecological drivers

Objectives: Although fermented food use is ubiquitous in humans, the ecological and evolutionary factors contributing to its emergence are unclear. Here we investigated the ecological contexts surrounding the consumption of fruits in the late stages of fermentation by wild primates to provide insight into its adaptive function. We hypothesized that climate, socioecological traits, and habitat patch size would influence the occurrence of this behavior due to effects on the environmental prevalence of late-stage fermented foods, the ability of primates to detect them, and potential nutritional benefits. Materials and methods: We compiled data from field studies lasting at least 9 months to describe the contexts in which primates were observed consuming fruits in the late stages of fermentation. Using generalized linear mixed-effects models, we assessed the effects of 18 predictor variables on the occurrence of fermented food use in primates. Results: Late-stage fermented foods were consumed by a wide taxonomic breadth of primates. However, they generally made up 0.01%–3% of the annual diet and were limited to a subset of fruit species, many of which are reported to have mechanical and chemical defenses against herbivores when not fermented. Additionally, latestage fermented food consumption was best predicted by climate and habitat patch size. It was more likely to occur in larger habitat patches with lower annual mean rainfall and higher annual mean maximum temperatures. Discussion: We posit that primates capitalize on the natural fermentation of some fruits as part of a nutritional strategy to maximize periods of fruit exploitation and/or access a wider range of plant species. We speculate that these factors contributed to the evolutionary emergence of the human propensity for fermented foods.Canadian Institute for Advanced Research/[]/CIFAR/CanadáUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de Biologí