The impact of roads on the movement of arboreal fauna in protected areas: the case of lar and pileated gibbons in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

The unavoidable impact of roads on arboreal fauna in protected areas has received little attention. We investigated this impact on two gibbon species in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand: two groups had home ranges traversed by roads (roadside groups) and another two lived nearby roads (interior groups). Roads partially delineated the edges of home ranges of roadside groups, and gibbons crossed them only at a few locations. Gibbons’ space use decreased near roads for roadside groups and showed road reluctance as their crossing rates were smaller than those produced by a null movement model. Generalised linear models (GLMs) indicated that a long canopy gap reduced gibbons’ crossing probability, whereas forest cover had a positive effect. A large part of the road network had a low probability of being crossed by gibbons according to GLMs, especially at areas around park headquarters. Roads were still relatively permeable to gibbon movement with a mean 35% crossing probability. The relatively short and narrow road network in the park constitutes a positive assessment of the standards of how roads should be built in protected areas. Nonetheless, this assessment might be the consequence of the park being set in a mountainous region with difficulties of road development

Análisis del juego social en el mono aullador (Alouatta palliata) bajo diferentes condiciones socioambientales

Tesis doctoral inédita, leida en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud. Fecha de lectura: 10 de julio de 200

The Ranging Costs of a Fallback Food: Liana Consumption Supplements Diet but Increases Foraging Effort in Howler Monkeys

Lianas are important components in the dynamics of tropical forests and represent fallback foods for some primates, yet little is known about their impact on primate ecology, behavior or fitness. Using 2 yr of field data, we investigated liana consumption and foraging effort in four groups of howler monkeys (two in bigger, more conserved forest fragments and two in smaller, less conserved fragments) to assess whether howler monkeys use lianas when and where food availability is scarce, and how liana consumption is related to foraging effort. Howler monkeys in smaller fragments spent more time consuming lianas and liana consumption was negatively related to the consumption of preferred food resources (fruit and Ficus spp.). Further, travel time was positively related to liana feeding time, but not to tree feeding time, and howler monkeys visited a greater number of food patches when feeding from liana leaves than when feeding from tree leaves. Our results suggest that these increases in foraging effort were related to the fact that lianas are mainly a source of leaves, and that liana patch size was probably smaller than tree patch size. While these results were clear when analyzing all four groups combined, however, they were not always significant in each of the groups individually. We suggest that this may be related to the differences in group size, patch size and the availability of resources among groups. Further studies are necessary to assess whether these dietary and behavioral adjustments negatively impact on the fitness and conservation of primates in fragments

Socioecological factors affecting range defensibility among howler monkeys

Range defensibility is defined as the ability of animals to efficiently move over an area to monitor and defend it. Therefore, range defensibility can help understand the spatial structure of animal territoriality. We used howler monkeys (Alouatta spp), a genus for which no agreement on the extent of their territoriality exists, to investigate the factors mediating range defensibility. We compared the defensibility index (D) across 63 groups of howler monkeys, representing 8 different species, based on a literature review. All species, except Alouatta palliata, were classified as potentially territorial according to D, although there was high variability within and among species. Group size had a positive effect on D, probably due to the greater ability of groups to defend a territory as they become larger. Study area had a negative effect on D, perhaps suggesting that unlike small areas, large areas allow groups to have territories that do not require significant defense from neighbours. However, population density was the factor with the strongest effect on D, with greater monitoring of home ranges under high levels of competition. Our results suggest that howler monkeys are theoretically capable of maintaining a territory and suggest that animals can show a gradient in territoriality, which can be mediated by the competitive context in which it occurs

Aspectos fiscales y económicos del federalismo argentino

Fil: Hernández, Antonio M. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Frías, Pedro J.. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Dalla Vía, Alberto. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Barrera Buteler, Guillermo. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Heredia, José Raúl. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Asensio, Miguel Ángel. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Bertaina, Norberto. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Rezk, Ernesto. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Midón, Mario A. R. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Luis Alberto. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Palazzo, Eugenio Luis. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Prieto, Hugo N. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Frediani, Ramón. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Roccatagliata, Juan A. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Della Paolera, Claude F. Academia Nacional de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales de Córdoba; Argentina.Con este libro se inicia una serie de publicaciones que integrarán la “Colección sobre Federalismo Argentino”, destinada al análisis de sus distintos aspectos. El objetivo no es otro que avanzar en el conocimiento, difusión, debate y estudio de nuestro federalismo, que es uno de los principios fundamentales de nuestra organización política y constitucional.Introducción / Antonio M. Hernández – Los aspectos financieros y económicos del federalismo argentino / Antonio M. Hernández – Unitarismo fiscal / Pedro J. Frías – El sistema federal fiscal / Alberto Dalla Vía – La distribución de la renta tributaria federal y el sistema de coparticipación en la organización constitucional argentina / Pablo María Garat – La ruptura del pacto federal en lo fiscal / Guillermo Barrera Buteler – Aspectos fiscales del federalismo, con especial referencia al poder tributario municipal / José Raúl Heredia – Nueva mirada a las finanzas federativas argentinas del siglo XXI / Miguel Angel Asensio – Federalismo fiscal, su deterioro / Norberto Bertaina – Nueva propuesta de arreglos fiscales interjurisdiccionales para Argentina / Ernesto Rezk – Convenios internacionales y tratados de regionalización / Mario A. R. Midón – Economía y orden jurídico / Luis Alberto Martínez – El Banco Federal / Eugenio Luis Palazzo – El dominio de los recursos naturales. La titularidad de las provincias y sus consecuencias en materia de hidrocarburos / Hugo N. Prieto – Federalización del Banco Central de la República Argentina / Ramón Frediani – Federalismo y política territorial en los inicios del tercer milenio / Juan A. Roccatagliata – Argentina invertebrada. La ausencia de una política nacional de ordenamiento territorial / Claude F. della Paolera

roads_shapefile ZIP

This is a compressed shapefile (ArcGIS) of the paved and dirt roads covering the study area. UTM format 16N, WGS 84

Habitat types_ZIP

This is a compressed RASTER file (tiff and corresponding reference files) for ArcGIS containing 4 habitat types: 1) primary forest, 2) secondary forest, 3) young secondary forest, 4) no forest. UTM format 16N, WGS 84

crossing locations info

This file contains information on the places where spider monkeys crossed the road (given in X and Y coordinates, UTM zone 16N, datum WGS 84) and other info about the crossing (e.g. road width and gap)

spider monkeys locations

This file contains the locations of spider monkeys subgroups separated by 30min intervals from 2005 to 2008. The x and y coordinates are given in UTM format 16N zone, WGS84 datum

Socioecological correlates of social play in adult mantled howler monkeys

The study of animal play is highly complex since its potential functions vary with social and environmental circumstances. Although play is generally characteristic of immature animals, it may persist in adults in its social form, particularly when interacting with young individuals, and less often with other adult playmates. We measured the amount of social play in 62 wild adult howler monkeys, Alouatta palliata, belonging to seven different groups in Mexico and Costa Rica. Overall, adult play represented a small mean proportion of observation time across all groups, but it was present in all study groups. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that group size correlated with both adult–adult and adult–immature play, supporting the hypothesis that more individuals provide more play opportunities. While play between adults decreased with increases in the immature to adult ratio, we did not find a clear preference for adults to play with immatures, emphasizing the importance of playing with other adult peers. Conversely, adults played more with immatures as the immature to adult ratio increased, which may correspond with the role adult–immature play may have in the socialization process of young individuals. More time dedicated to foraging on fruits corresponded with more adult–adult play. This finding, aside from being associated with more energy being available to engage in play, supports the hypothesis that play is a mechanism for solving conflicts associated with contest competition by either reducing social tension and/or fighting for a limited resource. The range of factors affecting social play indicates that this behaviour in adult howler monkeys is facultative, having affiliative, socializing and competitive roles, depending on the socioecological context