DOCSLIB.ORG

Why Is the Red Uakari Population Declining in the Peruvian Amazon?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Why Is the Red Uakari Population Declining in the Peruvian Amazon? Why is the Red Uakari Population Declining in the Peruvian Amazon? A study on the Peruvian uakari ecology in the larger Amazonian conservation context Quyen Nguyen Image Source: Arkive.org Abstract: The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a type of New World monkey found in flooded or wooded forests in Amazonian Brazil and Peru whose population is being threatened by various adverse human activities in Peru’s rainforests. This paper explores a few of what those detrimental human activities are and examines the role of local communities in protecting bald uakaris and preserving the larger Amazonian biodiversity. Introduction/Background: The Amazonian Ecosystem Amazonia, especially the western portions at the foothills of the Andes, “stands out as the largest and richest of the wilderness areas” (MacQuarrie 2001: 18), which means good and bad news. The good news is that Amazonia still as the lungs of the earth with at least “40,000 plants, of which 30,000 are endemic” (MacQuarrie 2001: 18), and it is home to at least “1,120 birds (141 endemic), 356 mammals (210 endemic), 338 reptiles (at least 66 endemic), and 410 amphibians (326 endemic)” (MacQuarrie 2001: 19) which concentrate particularly in the western edges of the massive forest. Unfortunately, this incredibly biodiverse area has become one of the last remaining major tropical wilderness areas due to human activity. By transforming Amazonian habitats from forests to cow pastures, grasslands to croplands and swamps into cities (MacQuarrie 2001: 825), humans are threatening the Amazon to the verge of extinction. In the tropical rainforests, it is estimated that “a minimum of 3 to 4 animal or plant species are being lost each and every day, which means that at least 1,000 to 1,500 species of plants & animals are being 1 permanently removed from our planet each year” (MacQuarrie 2001: 326). This destructive rate means that many of these endangered species are speedily dying out before we even have the chance to find and study them, not to mention protect them. Nguyen, Quyen. Amazonian biodiversity: white-lipped peccaries. 2013. Tambopata Research Center, Peru. Nguyen, Quyen. Amazonian biodiversity: Red & Blue Macaws. 2013. Tambopata Research Center, Peru. 2 Nguyen, Quyen. Amazonian biodiversity: Jaguar. 2013. Tambopata River, Peru. Nguyen, Quyen. Amazonian biodiversity: Giant Otters. 2013. Tambopata River, Peru. 3 Peruvian Uakari The bald-headed uakari has a signature bright crimson bald face and “a short and bushy tail which is less than half to only one third of the head and body length of the animal” according to various studies done from 1981 to 2007 (Gron 2008). According to Hershkovitz (1987) and Barnett (2005), the presence of blood vessels near the surface of the skin results in a reddish appearance of the face and head in red-faced uakaris. (Gron 2008) The pelage of the Peruvian uakaris is reddish-orange but other uakaris’ color may vary widely from “reddish to orange and buffy to whitish or pale yellow” (Gron 2008). Taxonomy & Distribution The scientific name of the red or bald-headed uakaris in Peru is Cacajao calvus ucayalii, a reddish-orange New World monkey found only in Peru. The genus Cacajao has quite limited distribution in Amazonian western forests, and Cacajao calvus, the bald- headed uakari, is found in “regions of whitewater rivers, south of the Amazon, in Brazil and Peru” (Kinzey 1997: 208-209). Besides the C. c. ucayalii, there are three other Cacajao subspecies found in limited areas in Brazil and Colombia e.g. the C. c. calvus (white pelage) is confined between the Rios Japura and Solimoes in Brazil. C. calvus ucayalii, the subspecies we are examining, is only found in northeastern Peru, confined to the south by the Sheshea River, to the north and west by the Amazon River and Ucayali River respectively, and in the east by the Yavari River. (Gron 2008) 4 IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 2008. Range of the Cacajao calvus ucayalli in northeastern Peru. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1 <http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=3416> Habitat & Ecology Generally uakaris are commonly found in or close to flooded or riparian forests. As opposed to Cacajao melanocephalus (whose face is black with plenty of dark, blackish hair) which is found in habitats associated with "black-water rivers,” Cacajao calvus is found in varzea forests, which is a type of Amazonian flooded forest “drained by white-water rivers where flooding occurs up to six months of the year, depositing new sediments and renewing the soil.” (Gron 2008) However there has been debate about whether bald uakaris’ habitat is fixed since they can be found in several types of habitat, including both flooded and unflooded várzea, swamp forest, white sand soil forests, floodplains and terra firme forest near várzea (Gron 2008). This switching in terms of habitat is a result of seasonal migration in the dry season when uakaris are said to move from previously flooded areas to terra firme. (Kinzey 1997: 210) They often stay within flooded areas to 5 enjoy periods of fruit abundance and move to “terra firme or other habitat types when more fruit is available outside of flooded forest” (Gron 2008). According to Leonard & Bennett (1996), Aquino (1988) and Boubli (2002), uakaris have been found in association with “other primates including spider monkeys (Ateles sp.), wooly monkeys (Lagothrix sp.), sakis (Chiropotes sp.& Pithecia sp.), capuchins (Cebus sp.), and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sp.)” (Gron 2008). Such associations might provide predator protection (from harpy eagles, for example) and foraging benefits (Gron 2008). Food competition occurs among uakaris and other species with a dietary overlap such as “macaws (Ara sp.), squirrels and sympatric primates such as squirrel monkeys and capuchins” (Gron 2008). However the level of potential competition, according to Barnett (2005), Barnett et al. (2005) and Barnett (2008), requires additional quantitative assessment and is predicted to be quite low (Gron 2008). Diet C. calvus’ diet consists predominantly of seeds of unripe fruits (67%) followed by other parts of fruit (10%), flowers (6%), nectar, insects (5%) and unidentified foods (4%) (Gron 2008). “Aquino & Encarnación (1999) noted C. c. ucayaliieating 53 plant species from 20 families, of which 46% were consumed for their seeds. Of these, 67% had thick heavy husks and were consumed in the immature state” (Gron 2008). In the dry season, Peruvian red uakaris also move to unflooded forest to feed on palm fruit (Gron 2008). Conservation Status and Hypotheses: According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2008), the bald uakaris, Cacajao Calvus, are categorized as Vulnerable. Here is a history of the IUCN’s assessment of the C. calvus over the years (Veiga et al. 2008): 6 2003 – Near Threatened (IUCN 2003) 2003 – Near Threatened 2000 – Vulnerable 1996 – Vulnerable (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) 1996 – Vulnerable 1994 – Endangered (Groombridge 1994) 1990 – Vulnerable (IUCN 1990) 1988 – Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) 1986 – Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986) 1982 – Vulnerable (Thornback and Jenkins 1982) Compared to the assessment in 1994 which put bald uakaris into the pool of endangered animals (only two steps away from completely extinction), the 2008 status of ‘vulnerable’ is somewhat more hopeful, indicating that conservation work had been done to rectify the dangerous drop in uakaris’ population in 1994. However, if we look at the 2003 assessment, uakaris’ have shifted closer to the extinction side of the spectrum by moving from Near Threatened in 2003 to Vulnerable in 2008. The IUCN’s justification for this change is that “there is reason to believe the species has declined by at least 30% over the past 30 years (three generations) due primarily to hunting and habitat loss” (Veiga et al. 2008). This paper explores those reasons that contribute to the uakari population decline for the past three decades with two main hypotheses: 1. Hunters preying on uakaris for bush meat are causing their population to decline. 2. Loggers who destroy uakaris’ arboreal habitat are depriving them of their home and food source. Hunting and logging are two main causes of Amazonia’s biodiversity and my hypotheses propose that they are the dominant actors causing uakaris’ population to decrease over the years. Biological factors such as the uakaris’ low reproductive rate (Barton 2006: 4) or their high rate of malaria infection (Gron 2008) might contribute to their slow recovery but 7 the external, human-induced effects are the more detrimental forces against uakaris’ population growth. After all, it is humans who have caused current extinction rates to skyrocket from 100 to 1000 times the normal extinction rate in the past, making the past two hundred years an “extinction spasm” (MacQuarrie 326) as catastrophic as the mass- extinction of all dinosaurs 65 million years ago. While the Mesozoic period came to a close due to an impact of a meteor collision, homo sapiens have managed to speed up our own destructive process entirely through man-made exploitative activities (MacQuarrie 326). Findings: HUNTING Uakaris are susceptible to hunting due to its primary range close to rivers (varzea forests). Aquino (1988) has suggested that uakari populations “close to the Ucayali and Amazon Rivers have been greatly reduced and in some areas exterminated, caused by hunting and habitat disturbance” (Veiga et al. 2008). Due to their riparian habitat, uakaris are prone to hunters, either preferentially hunted or taken when other primates are unavailable (Barnett and Brandon-Jones 1997). Hunted for Meat Sightings in 2003 of C. c. ucayalii on the Quebradas Tangarana and Tahuaillo in Peru show that the local C. c. ucayalii populations were frequently hunted. “On the Quebrada Blanco, we met a local hunter carrying a dead female that he had shot an hour’s walk from our camp,” Ward and Chism (2003) report.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fascinating Primates 3/4/13 8:09 AM Ancient Egyptians Used Traits of an Ibis Or a Hamadryas Used Traits Egyptians Ancient ) to Represent Their God Thoth
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. Fascinating Primates Fascinating The Beginning of an Adventure Ever since the time of the fi rst civilizations, nonhuman primates and people have oc- cupied overlapping habitats, and it is easy to imagine how important these fi rst contacts were for our ancestors’ philosophical refl ections. Long ago, adopting a quasi- scientifi c view, some people accordingly regarded pri- mates as transformed humans. Others, by contrast, respected them as distinct be- ings, seen either as bearers of sacred properties or, conversely, as diabolical creatures. A Rapid Tour around the World In Egypt under the pharaohs, science and religion were still incompletely separated. Priests saw the Papio hamadryas living around them as “brother baboons” guarding their temples. In fact, the Egyptian god Thoth was a complex deity combining qualities of monkeys and those of other wild animal species living in rice paddies next to temples, all able to sound the alarm if thieves were skulking nearby. At fi rst, baboons represented a local god in the Nile delta who guarded sacred sites. The associated cult then spread through middle Egypt. Even- tually, this god was assimilated by the Greeks into Hermes Trismegistus, the deity measuring and interpreting time, the messenger of the gods. One conse- quence of this deifi cation was that many animals were mummifi ed after death to honor them. Ancient Egyptians used traits of an ibis or a Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) to represent their god Thoth.
    [Show full text]
  • Levels of Affiliation Between Members of a Captive Family Group of White-Faced Saki Monkeys (Pithecia Pitheciay)
    Lambda Alpha Journal Page 39 Volume 39, 2009 Levels of Affiliation between Members of a Captive Family Group of White-faced Saki Monkeys (Pithecia pitheciay) Angela Toole Department of Anthropology University of Missouri- St. Louis White-faced saki monkeys (Pithecia pitheciai are monogamous primates rarely studied in the wild. Little is known about their affiliative behavior. This study examined levels of affiliation between five members of a captive family group of white-faced saki monkeys at the St. Louis Zoo from October to November 2008. I collected twenty hours of data on the affiliative behavior of the five member group. This data consisted of focal animal samples, nearest neighbor focal animal samples, and interaction matrices of affiliative behaviors to determine the differences in levels of affiliation between male and female parent sakis, and male and female offspring. I found that male and female offspring tend to affiliate more than male offspring do with each other. The male parent rarely affiliated with his female offspring while the female parent affiliated with both her male and female offspring. The bonded pair affiliated infrequently and were rarely observed in proximity of each other (only 1 % of the observed time was spent in close proximity). These results differ from the findings of studies of the affiliative behaviors of the closely related titi monkeys (Callicebus sp.). Previous studies of captive titi monkeys show that affiliation tends to be higher between the bonded pair than between the parents and their offspring and that bonded pairs of titi monkeys display "jealousy behaviors" when intruders enter their group.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 RAPID PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MATURATION, DELAYED BEHAVIORAL MATURATION, AND SINGLE BIRTH IN YOUNG ADULT CALLTMICO: A REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Donald P.
    [Show full text]
  • An Expanded Search for Simian Foamy Viruses (SFV) in Brazilian New World Primates Identifies Novel SFV Lineages and Host Age‑Related Infections Cláudia P
    Muniz et al. Retrovirology (2015) 12:94 DOI 10.1186/s12977-015-0217-x RESEARCH Open Access An expanded search for simian foamy viruses (SFV) in Brazilian New World primates identifies novel SFV lineages and host age‑related infections Cláudia P. Muniz1,2, Hongwei Jia2, Anupama Shankar2, Lian L. Troncoso1, Anderson M. Augusto3, Elisabete Farias1, Alcides Pissinatti4, Luiz P. Fedullo3, André F. Santos1, Marcelo A. Soares1,5 and William M. Switzer2* Abstract Background: While simian foamy viruses have co-evolved with their primate hosts for millennia, most scientific stud- ies have focused on understanding infection in Old World primates with little knowledge available on the epidemiol- ogy and natural history of SFV infection in New World primates (NWPs). To better understand the geographic and species distribution and evolutionary history of SFV in NWPs we extend our previous studies in Brazil by screening 15 genera consisting of 29 NWP species (140 monkeys total), including five genera (Brachyteles, Cacajao, Callimico, Mico, and Pithecia) not previously analyzed. Monkey blood specimens were tested using a combination of both serology and PCR to more accurately estimate prevalence and investigate transmission patterns. Sequences were phylogeneti- cally analyzed to infer SFV and host evolutionary histories. Results: The overall serologic and molecular prevalences were 42.8 and 33.6 %, respectively, with a combined assay prevalence of 55.8 %. Discordant serology and PCR results were observed for 28.5 % of the samples, indicating that both methods are currently necessary for estimating NWP SFV prevalence. SFV prevalence in sexually mature NWPs with a positive result in any of the WB or PCR assays was 51/107 (47.7 %) compared to 20/33 (61 %) for immature animals.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2013
    Annual Report 2013 © Proyecto Mono Tocón First published 2014 Jr. Reyes Guerra, 430 Moyobamba, Perú Text by Jan Vermeer Design and composition by Jan Vermeer and Antonio Bóveda Photography by Proyecto Mono Tocón All rights reserved. Information from this publication may be reproduced, but preferably with the prior permission of the Proyecto Mono Tocón association. he year 2013 has again been a year with much expansion of the activities of Proyecto Mono Tocón. Despite all efforts by local communities, authorities and non-governmental organisations, the T situation of the San Martin titi monkey (Callicebus oenanthe) is critical. There is an ever increasing human pressure on its habitat and little of its forest remains. We are supporting several local communities with the conservation of their forest, home of the San Martin titi monkey. But the question that keeps us occupied is if this is enough to safe the species from extinction. Without more political involvement, it will be very difficult to create safe havens for viable populations of titi monkeys. The Regional Government of San Martin will have to review their intentions for the territory and decide if it would not be better to change the designation of many thousands of hectares of production forest into in conservation areas. Our conservation work concentrates on the Central Huallaga area, as this is the region where we still can find the titi monkey’s habitat and maybe even more important, local communities that want to protect their forest. To better understand the needs of the titi monkeys, we have started in 2013 several long term research programmes, focussing on titi monkey densities in different types of forest and on behaviour.
    [Show full text]
  • Neotropical Primates 20(1), June 2012
    ISSN 1413-4703 NEOTROPICAL PRIMATES A Journal of the Neotropical Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Volume 20 Number 1 June 2013 Editors Erwin Palacios Liliana Cortés-Ortiz Júlio César Bicca-Marques Eckhard Heymann Jessica Lynch Alfaro Anita Stone News and Book Reviews Brenda Solórzano Ernesto Rodríguez-Luna PSG Chairman Russell A. Mittermeier PSG Deputy Chairman Anthony B. Rylands Neotropical Primates A Journal of the Neotropical Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group Conservation International 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202, USA ISSN 1413-4703 Abbreviation: Neotrop. Primates Editors Erwin Palacios, Conservación Internacional Colombia, Bogotá DC, Colombia Liliana Cortés Ortiz, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Júlio César Bicca-Marques, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil Eckhard Heymann, Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Germany Jessica Lynch Alfaro, Institute for Society and Genetics, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Anita Stone, Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA News and Books Reviews Brenda Solórzano, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México Ernesto Rodríguez-Luna, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México Founding Editors Anthony B. Rylands, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science Conservation International, Arlington VA, USA Ernesto Rodríguez-Luna, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México Editorial Board Bruna Bezerra, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK Adelmar F. Coimbra-Filho, Academia Brasileira de Ciências, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Carolyn M. Crockett, Regional Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Stephen F. Ferrari, Universidade Federal do Sergipe, Aracajú, Brazil Russell A.
    [Show full text]
  • Genus Pithecia) in a Highly Diverse Primate Community
    The behavioural ecology of a potentially undescribed morph of Saki Monkey (genus Pithecia) in a highly diverse primate community Emily Lehtonen Arbetsgruppen för Tropisk Ekologi Minor Field Study 206 Committee of Tropical Ecology ISSN 1653-5634 Uppsala University, Sweden December 2016 Uppsala The behavioural ecology of a potentially undescribed morph of Saki Monkey (genus Pithecia) in a highly diverse primate community Emily Lehtonen Supervisors: Prof. Mats Björklund, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Dr. Paul Beaver, Amazonia Expeditions Tahuayo Lodge, Iquitos, Peru. Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Key Words ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 Project Aims and Questions ........................................................................................................................... 5 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Field Observations of Sakis ............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Ecology of Human and Wild Primate Malarias in the New World
    Diversity 2010, 2, 256-280; doi:10.3390/d2020256 OPEN ACCESS diversity ISSN 1424-2818 www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity Article The Historical Ecology of Human and Wild Primate Malarias in the New World Loretta A. Cormier Department of History and Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1401 University Boulevard, Birmingham, AL 35294-115, USA; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-205-975-6526; Fax: +1-205-975-8360 Received: 15 December 2009 / Accepted: 22 February 2010 / Published: 24 February 2010 Abstract: The origin and subsequent proliferation of malarias capable of infecting humans in South America remain unclear, particularly with respect to the role of Neotropical monkeys in the infectious chain. The evidence to date will be reviewed for Pre-Columbian human malaria, introduction with colonization, zoonotic transfer from cebid monkeys, and anthroponotic transfer to monkeys. Cultural behaviors (primate hunting and pet-keeping) and ecological changes favorable to proliferation of mosquito vectors are also addressed. Keywords: Amazonia; malaria; Neotropical monkeys; historical ecology; ethnoprimatology 1. Introduction The importance of human cultural behaviors in the disease ecology of malaria has been clear at least since Livingstone‘s 1958 [1] groundbreaking study describing the interrelationships among iron tools, swidden horticulture, vector proliferation, and sickle cell trait in tropical Africa. In brief, he argued that the development of iron tools led to the widespread adoption of swidden (―slash and burn‖) agriculture. These cleared agricultural fields carved out a new breeding area for mosquito vectors in stagnant pools of water exposed to direct sunlight. The proliferation of mosquito vectors and the subsequent heavier malarial burden in human populations led to the genetic adaptation of increased frequency of sickle cell trait, which confers some resistance to malaria.
    [Show full text]
  • Community-Based Conservation in Peruvian Amazon. Attempts to Save the Red Uakari of Loreto
    Master thesis in Sustainable Development 310 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Community-based conservation in Peruvian Amazon. Attempts to save the red uakari of Loreto Amanda Berglund DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Master thesis in Sustainable Development 310 Examensarbete i Hållbar utveckling Community-based conservation in Peruvian Amazon. Attempts to save the red uakari of Loreto Amanda Berglund Supervisor: Jan Hultgren Evaluator: Stefan Gunnarsson Copyright © Amanda Berglund and the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University Published at Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University (www.geo.uu.se), Uppsala, 2016 Table of Content Table of Content ................................................................................................................................ i Abstract ............................................................................................................................................ ii 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Problem Statement ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2. Aim ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1.3. Rationale ...................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Golden-Backed Uacari on the Upper Rio Negro, Brazil
    The golden-backed uacari on the upper Rio Negro, Brazil Adrian Barnett and Alexia Celeste da Cunha The golden-backed uacari Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary is one of South America's least-known monkeys. Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, it lives in remote areas of north-western Amazonia, as yet relatively unaffected by ecologically disruptive economic and technological activities. It inhabits swamp forests on black-water rivers during the main fruiting season and may move to dry land forests at other times of the year. The authors' survey showed that the animal was still common in the vicinity of subsistence communities, but is subject to heavy hunting pressure. Although the political situation in the area and the region's remoteness make it difficult to implement conservation plans, the authors propose a possible basis for a conservation plan for the golden-backed uacari and its habitat. The habitat water rivers igapd (Prance, 1979). Varzea and igapo are the only forest types in The Amazon basin has three types of rivers; the world where fish are the major agents of clear-water, black-water and white-water. fruit dispersal and predation (Goulding et al, White-water rivers originate on the eastern 1988). Hence, most igapo and varzea trees slopes of the Andes and gain their cafe au lait fruit during the period of inundation (Revilla, colour from sediment eroded from a geologi- 1981). This also has important consequences cally young formation. Black-water and clear- for the other denizens of the flooded forests. water rivers flow over the much older Guyana The genus Cacajao is unique among Shield, whose rocks are no longer rich in erod- Neotropical primates in possessing a very short able deposits or soluble minerals (Meggers, tail, less than one-third of the combined head 1971).
    [Show full text]
  • Medium/Long Wavelength Sensitive Opsin Diversity in Pitheciidae Goulart, VDLR, Boubli, JP and Young, RJ
    Medium/Long wavelength sensitive opsin diversity in Pitheciidae Goulart, VDLR, Boubli, JP and Young, RJ http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08143-2 Title Medium/Long wavelength sensitive opsin diversity in Pitheciidae Authors Goulart, VDLR, Boubli, JP and Young, RJ Type Article URL This version is available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/43509/ Published Date 2017 USIR is a digital collection of the research output of the University of Salford. Where copyright permits, full text material held in the repository is made freely available online and can be read, downloaded and copied for non-commercial private study or research purposes. Please check the manuscript for any further copyright restrictions. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Medium/Long wavelength sensitive opsin diversity in Pitheciidae Vinicius D. L. R. Goulart 1,2, Jean P. Boubli2 & Robert J. Young2 New World primates feature a complex colour vision system. Most species have polymorphic colour Received: 16 January 2017 vision where males have a dichromatic colour perception and females can be either dichromatic or Accepted: 5 July 2017 trichromatic. The adaptive value of high allelic diversity of opsins, a light sensitive protein, found in Published: xx xx xxxx primates’ eyes remains unknown. Studies revealing the allelic diversity are important as they shed light on our understanding of the adaptive value of diferences in the colouration of species and their ecologies. Here we investigate the allelic types found in Pitheciidae, an understudied New World primate family, revealing the diversity of medium/long wavelength sensitive opsins both in cryptic and conspicuous species of this primate family.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reproductive Costs and Benefits to Individuals of Forming Large 9 Multimale/Multifemale Groups Paul A
    Comp. by: Leela Stage: Proof Chapter No.: 9 Title Name: VEIGA_et_al Date:7/11/12 Time:09:43:54 Page Number: 96 Part II Comparative Pitheciid Ecology Chapter Male cooperation in Pitheciines: the reproductive costs and benefits to individuals of forming large 9 multimale/multifemale groups Paul A. Garber & Martin M. Kowalewski Primates differ from many other animal lineages in that they show rather good evidence of cooperation, especially in long- term relationships. (van Schaik & Kappeler 2006, p. 13) Introduction Over the past few years, a series of papers have been pub- Traditional approaches to the study of primate sociality have lished (Dugatkin 1997; Nunn 2000; Chapais 2006; van Schaik & highlighted predator protection as a primary benefit of group Kappeler 2006; Sussman & Garber 2007) that provide strong living, and argue that factors such as aggression, dominance empirical and theoretical support for models of primate social- and feeding competition constrain or determine group size, ity based on patterns of affiliation, cooperation, reciprocity and group composition and the nature of social interactions mutualism. These studies build on the work of Hamilton among individual group members (van Schaik 1983, 1989; (1964), Trivers (1971) and Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) in Janson & Goldsmith 1995; Sterck et al. 1997; Chapman & defining and expanding the set of social and ecological condi- Chapman 2000; Janson 2000; Kappeler & van Schaik 2002). tions under which cooperative behaviors are expected to evolve In particular, both the socioecological model and the ecological and be maintained as an evolutionary stable strategy. constraints model describe a set of resource conditions Here we define cooperation as coordinated “actions or traits (clumped and monopolizable resources of intermediate size that benefit other individuals” (van Schaik & Kappeler 2006, p.
    [Show full text]