The Feeding and Behavioral Ecology of Black Spider Monkey
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THE FEEDING AND BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY OF BLACK SPIDER MONKEY SUBGROUPS (Ateles paniscus paniscus) IN THE CONTEXT OF ILLEGAL ARTISINAL GOLDMINING ACTIVITIES IN THE BROWNSBERG NATURE PARK, SURINAME A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Arioene Uncas Naldi Vreedzaam August, 2013 Thesis written by Arioene U. N. Vreedzaam B.A., Kent State University, 2007 M.A., Kent State University, 2013 Approved by _____________________________________ Dr. Marilyn A. Norconk Advisor _____________________________________ Dr. Richard S. Meindl Chair, Department of Anthropology _____________________________________ Dr. James Blank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABELS ............................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Primates as seed dispersers and their role in rainforest maintenance ....................... 1 1.2 Small-scale Gold mining: definition, significance, trends worldwide ...................... 6 1.3 General overview of Hg(0) ....................................................................................... 9 1.4 The toxicology of mercury and health effects on humans ...................................... 11 1.4.1 Minamata, Japan ................................................................................................................. 12 1.4.2 Iraq ...................................................................................................................................... 14 1.5 Mercury studies in non-human primates................................................................. 14 1.6 Research question ................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 METHODS ................................................................................................................. 21 2.1 Background on Suriname and Brownsberg Nature Park (BNP) ............................. 21 2.2. History of Mining at the Brownsberg .................................................................... 24 2.3 Primates of the Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname .............................................. 26 2.4 The genus Ateles, with emphasis on A. paniscus paniscus ..................................... 27 iii 2.5 Sampling Methods .................................................................................................. 32 2.5.1 Climate ................................................................................................................................ 32 2.5.2 Subgroup data ..................................................................................................................... 33 2.5.3 Feeding Data ....................................................................................................................... 35 2.6 Determination of the Presence of Mercury ............................................................. 35 CHAPTER 3 RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 43 3.1 Ateles paniscus Ranging and Grouping Patterns .................................................... 43 3.2 Activity budget ........................................................................................................ 44 3.3 Feeding Ecology ..................................................................................................... 44 3.4 Mercury Concentration in Excretions ..................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................... 62 4.1 Ateles paniscus Ranging and Grouping Patterns .................................................... 62 4.2 Ateles paniscus Activity Budget ............................................................................. 63 4.3 Feeding Ecology ..................................................................................................... 65 4.4 The Mercury Pilot Study ......................................................................................... 66 LIST OF REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 71 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIG. 1.1. ILLUSTRATION DEPICTING A TYPICAL SMALL-SCALE MINING OPERATION ......................................................................................................................... 17 FIG. 1.2 COMPOSITE LANDSAT IMAGES OF THE BROWNSBERG NATURE PARK 1987, 1997, 2000 ............................................................................................................................. 18 FIG. 1.3 SEVERAL SNAPSHOTS TAKEN DURING VISITS TO THE WK MINING AREA 2005-2008 .............................................................................................................................. 19 FIG. 1.4 REAL TIME SATELLITE IMAGE OF THE BROWNSBERG NATURE PARK AREA OCTOBER 11, 2008 .............................................................................................................. 20 FIG. 2.1 LOCATION OF SURINAME WITHIN SOUTH AMERICA ...................................... 38 FIG. 2.2 NATURE RESERVES IN SURINAME ......................................................................... 38 FIG. 2.3 TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF BROWNSBERG PLATEAU’S TRAIL SYSTEM ............. 39 FIG. 2.4 DISTRIBUTION MAP OF ATELES SPP. IN THE NEOTROPICS .............................. 40 FIG. 2.5 DISTRIBUTION OF ATELES SPP. AND SSP. IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA ............................................................................................................................. 41 FIG. 2.6 DAILY RECORDED RAINFALL (MM), MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE (C) FOR THE BNP PLATEAU (MAY 27, 2008 – JULY 28, 2008) ...... 42 FIG. 2.7 THE HEAVY METALS TEST KIT ............................................................................... 42 FIG. 3.1 DAILY TRAVEL PATHS OF BLACK SPIDER MONKEY SUBGROUPS ALONG THE WITI KREEK TRAIL, BROWNSBERG NATURE PARK, SURINAME ................. 51 FIG. 3.2 TRAVEL PATHS FOR SUBGROUP M ALONG THE WK TRAIL ............................ 52 FIG. 3.4 ACTIVITY BUDGET BLACK SPIDER MONKEY SUBGROUPS ............................. 55 v FIG. 3.5 TOTAL ACTIVITY BUDGET FOR BLACK SPIDER MONKEY SUBGROUPS FROM MAY 28, 2008 – JULY 28, 2008 .............................................................................. 56 FIG. 3.6 PERCENTAGES OF TYPES OF FOOD ITEMS CONSUMED BY BLACK SPIDER MONKEY SUBGROUPS ..................................................................................................... 57 FIG. 3.7 DISTRIBUTION OF TYPES OF FOOD ITEMS EATEN/INGESTED BY BLACK SPIDER MONKEYS ............................................................................................................. 57 FIG. 3.8 DIET BREADTH IN THE EARLY WET SEASON 2008 ............................................. 58 FIG. 3.10 FREQUENCY OF EATING FRUIT FROM DIFFERENT PLANT SPECIES ........... 59 FIG. 3.11 PERCENTAGE OF FEEDING TREES (FRUIT PATCHES) PER GENUS .............. 60 FIG. 3.12 NUMBER OF FRUIT SPECIES EATEN/DAY DURING THE STUDY PERIOD .... 60 FIG. 3.13 DISTRIBUTION OF MERCURY TEST RESULTS ACROSS THREE POPULATIONS .................................................................................................................... 61 vi LIST OF TABELS TABLE 2.1. WEATHER DATA FOR THE BNP PLATEAU FROM MAY 28, 2008 – JULY 28, 2008. ...................................................................................................................................... 33 TABLE 3.1 DAILY TOTAL DISTANCE (M) AND AVERAGE DISTANCE/HR (M/HR) TRAVELLED WITH EACH SUBGROUP. ......................................................................... 47 TABLE 3.2 MERCURY TEST RESULTS FOR WILD POPULATION, PARAMARIBO ZOO, AND HIRAM INDIVIDUALS ............................................................................................. 49 TABLE 3.3 GROUP SCAN DATA PER TWO-HOUR PERIODS DURING THE DAY .......... 53 TABLE 4.1 ADAPTED FROM SUAREZ (2006) STUDY ON ATELES BELZEBUTH .............. 64 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my advisor, Marilyn Norconk, for being so patient with me during my years as a Kent State undergraduate and graduate student. Without her guidance I would have not been able to reach my current goals. I have no way of expressing how truly grateful I am in all that she has done for me. Secondly, I will forever be in debt to Jessica Westin. Without her none of this would be really possible, as she supported me in numerous ways for so many years. Thank you so much. Many thanks go out to all my fellow graduate students, recent and past, who have been great friends to me during my time at Kent State. Too many to name, you all are awesome. A special word of gratitude to Tremie who has been a great colleague and an even better friend. And of course to the Jessica’s: I miss you guys, thank you for being there for me when I needed it the most. My time in the field would not have been as enjoyable if I had never