Rare monkey adapts to fragmented habitat by dieting and reducing
activity

Date:
March 17, 2022
Source:
Wildlife Conservation Society
Summary:
A team of scientists found that a rare species of monkey in Bolivia
has adapted to living in a fragmented forest by dieting and moving
less during lean times.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A team of scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and
Oxford Brookes University found that a rare species of monkey in Bolivia
has adapted to living in a fragmented forest by dieting and moving less
during lean times.


========================================================================== Publishing their results in the International Journal of Primatology,
the team say that Olalla's titi monkey (Plecturocebus olallae), follows
an energy-area minimizing strategy that may enable it to inhabit a forest-savanna landscape in the southwestern portion of the Llanos de
Moxos -- the largest wetland in the Amazon.

The team observed a shift in diet away from fruits during the dry season
toward alternative foods such as seeds, lichens, and fungi. In addition,
the monkeys reduced movement instead of expanding ranging behavior to
look for fruits and other higher quality foods.

Nevertheless, the authors say that deforestation and further fragmentation
in the range of these endemic and Critically Endangered primates must be addressed, as they represent significant threats to the severely range- restricted populations.

Said Rob Wallace, Director of WCS's Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape
Program, and a co-author of the study: "The study illustrates the
relevance of understanding primate ecological flexibility in response to
food reductions to the development of conservation actions, especially in
the light of increasing forest degradation and loss in the study region."
In December 2021, WCS Bolivia won the National Biodiversity Science
Prize for its work over the last two decades studying and developing conservation actions for the endemic titi monkeys in the Greater Madidi-Tambopata Landscape. In 2020, WCS began a second landscape-scale
program in the Llanos de Moxos of Beni.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Wildlife_Conservation_Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jesus Martinez, Robert B. Wallace, Enrique Domic, Lesly Lo'pez,
K. Anne-
Isola Nekaris. Seasonal Ecological Flexibility of a Threatened
Bolivian Endemic: Olalla's Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus
olallae). International Journal of Primatology, 2022; DOI:
10.1007/s10764-021-00276-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220317111854.htm

--- up 2 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)