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The color scale is the intensity of use in our site fidelity analysis and indicates the number of layers that intersect in a given region, which in this simple example can go from 1 to 3. For example, areas ranked with 2 include all portions that were used in two different years irrespectively of which years and whether they were consecutive; thus they include the overlap between years 1 and 2, 1 and 3 and 2 and 3.
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Animal home ranges may vary little in their size and location in the short term but nevertheless show more variability in the long term. We evaluated the degree of site fidelity of two groups of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) over a 10- and 13-year period, respectively, in the northeastern Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. We used the Local Convex Hull...
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Citations
... Due to this, they require large areas of undisturbed mature forest and are therefore particularly sensitive to forest loss and fragmentation [41,42]. There have been several studies investigating how Geoffroy's spider monkey responds to anthropogenic change, revealing contradictory results regarding their ability to tolerate land use change [7,8,15,37,39,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. The effects of human infrastructure have gone largely unstudied, with only one study revealing avoidance of habitat close to roads and an effect of canopy gap on crossing [50] and one showing human density to have no effect on occurrence [43]. ...
... In this study, occurrence probability was similar across old growth and secondary forests, as found previously in the same region [7]. However, studies conducted in other regions have found that spider monkeys generally prefer continuous tracts of old growth forests [8,37,43,44], and occur in secondary forests at significantly lower levels [44,45]. The reason for the disparity in these results is likely due to the definition and characteristics of secondary forests, which may vary across studies since the term secondary forest can be used to describe forests of varying age. ...
As more land is altered by human activity and more species become at risk of extinction, it is essential that we understand the requirements for conserving threatened species across human-modified landscapes. Owing to their rarity and often sparse distributions, threatened species can be difficult to study and efficient methods to sample them across wide temporal and spatial scales have been lacking. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is increasingly recognized as an efficient method for collecting data on vocal species; however, the development of automated species detectors required to analyse large amounts of acoustic data is not keeping pace. Here, we collected 35 805 h of acoustic data across 341 sites in a region over 1000 km2 to show that PAM, together with a newly developed automated detector, is able to successfully detect the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), allowing us to show that Geoffroy's spider monkey was absent below a threshold of 80% forest cover and within 1 km of primary paved roads and occurred equally in old growth and secondary forests. We discuss how this methodology circumvents many of the existing issues in traditional sampling methods and can be highly successful in the study of vocally rare or threatened species. Our results provide tools and knowledge for setting targets and developing conservation strategies for the protection of Geoffroy's spider monkey.
... The home range was defined as the area with 95% probability of occurrence (95% isopleth) as calculated by the 'local convex hull' method in the adaptive mode (a-LoCoH) for the estimation of utilization distributions [62,63]. This is a non-parametric method based on the construction of polygons around each waypoint that we used to calculate the home range of the study group [64,65]. The a-LoCoH method requires the definition of parameter 'a' which was done by taking the value that minimized the size of the home range without fragmenting it [62], to reduce the potential for home-range overestimation. ...
Male–male relationships are mostly characterized by competition. However, males also cooperate with one another if socio-ecological conditions are suitable. Due to their male philopatry, the need for cooperation in home range defence and high degree of fission–fusion dynamics, spider monkeys provide an opportunity to investigate how male–male interactions are associated with socio-ecological factors, such as the presence of potentially receptive females, the degree of food availability and the likelihood of home range defence. We tested predictions about changes in social interactions between wild spider monkey males in relation to these factors. First, males did not change their interaction patterns when potentially receptive females were in the subgroup compared to when they were absent. Second, males tended to be less tolerant of one another when feeding, but spent more time grooming, in contact and proximity with one another when food availability was lower than when it was higher. Third, males exchanged fewer embraces, spent less time grooming, in proximity and in contact with one another, and spent more time vigilant at the home range boundary area than at other locations. Our findings contribute to the understanding of social flexibility and the importance of considering males in socio-ecological models of any group-living species.
... We also flew the drone at BG, OMYK, and LAT, where prior work suggested that spider monkey relative abundance is higher (Table 1) and where the monkeys are well habituated to human presence. We flew the drone at seven locations in OMYK within the known home range of one group of spider monkeys that has been studied for over 20 years (Ramos-Fernández et al. 2013) and at two and nine locations in BG and LAT, respectively, that were frequently used by spider monkeys (unpublished data). The distance between the two locations in BG was 537 m, and the mean distance between a location and its closest neighbouring location was 505 m (range: 354-876 m) and 460 m (range: 342-634 m) in OMYK and LAT, respectively. ...
Commercial, off-the-shelf, multirotor drones are increasingly employed to survey wildlife due to their relative ease of use and ability to cover areas quicker than traditional methods. Such drones fitted with high-resolution visual spectrum (RGB) cameras are an appealing tool for wildlife biologists. However, evaluations of the application of drones with RGB cameras for monitoring large-bodied arboreal mammals are largely lacking. We aimed to assess whether Geoffroy’s spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) could be detected in RGB videos collected by drones in tropical forests. We performed 77 pre-programmed grid flights with a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone at a height of 10 m above the maximum canopy height covering 45% of a 1-hectare polygon per flight. We flew the drone directly over spider monkeys who had just been sighted from the ground, detecting monkeys in 85% of 20 detection test flights. Monkeys were detected in 17% of 18 trial flights over areas of known high relative abundance. We never detected monkeys in 39 trial flights over areas of known low relative abundance. Proportion of spider monkey detections during drone flights was lower than other commonly employed survey methods. Agreement between video-coders was high. Overall, our results suggest that with some changes in our research design, multirotor drones with RGB cameras might be a viable survey method to determine spider monkey presence in closed-canopy forest, although its applicability for rapid assessments of arboreal mammal species′ distributions seems currently unfeasible. We provide recommendations to improve survey design using drones to monitor arboreal mammal populations.
... In all groups studied, gorillas tended to stay in the same area, as evidenced by the high average pairwise overlap between DUs in the same group. This site fidelity appears to be a ubiquitous trait in primates (Campos et al., 2014;Cheyne et al., 2019;José-Domínguez et al., 2015;Ramos-Fernandez et al., 2013;van Belle & Estrada, 2020;Wartmann et al., 2014;Caillaud et al., 2014), probably because of the advantages of greater familiarity with the environment, which is particularly useful when feeding on spatio-temporally heterogeneous foods and in the case of predation (Powell & Mitchell, 2012). Nevertheless, gorilla groups have been known to readjust their home range location, either locally (displacement of the home range barycentre less than the radius of the average home range size; < 1400 m) or widely (> 1400 m). ...
À l’ombre du feuillage dense de la forêt tropicale d’Afrique centrale, un gorille de l’Ouest (Gorilla gorilla) passe presque le tiers de sa journée à manger. Chaque jour, il a besoin de plus de 5 000 kcal et parcourt plusieurs kilomètres pour trouver sa nourriture en quantité suffisante. De l’efficacité de sa recherche peut ainsi dépendre sa valeur sélective. Si la sélection naturelle a donc pu jouer sur les capacités facilitant la digestion et la perception des ressources, ou la locomotion, elle a aussi pu influencer la capacité de ce grand singe à traiter, mémoriser et réutiliser un savoir de long terme permettant de connaître quand et où se trouve quelle ressource. Cette thèse propose de mieux comprendre l’implication de la cognition dans la recherche de nourriture chez le gorille de l’Ouest, et plus largement chez les primates. Nous comblons d’abord un vide théorique et illustrons par jeu de simulations agent-centrées comment une mémoire temporelle permet d’améliorer l’efficacité de la recherche de nourriture dans un environnement variable mais prédictible, comme la forêt tropicale et saisonnière où vivent les gorilles de l'Ouest. Par suite, nous prenons appui sur un suivi de long terme de cinq groupes de gorilles de l’Ouest d’Afrique centrale, habitués à la présence humaine, ainsi que sur un inventaire botanique et phénologique de leurs ressources alimentaires afin de montrer l’existence d’une mémoire spatio-temporelle. Pour ce faire, nous nous concentrons sur deux comportements : la restriction du déplacement au sein d’un domaine vital et les choix alimentaires effectués. Par suite, nous mettons en exergue une partie des mécanismes cognitifs spatiaux sous-jacents aux déplacements en nous focalisant sur l’utilisation par les gorilles de marécages largement dispersés mais aux ressources uniques et essentielles, et celle d’un réseau de sentiers d’éléphants de forêt. Ces études soulignent l’existence d’une mémoire spatiale précise jusqu’à de larges échelles, avec un encodage topologique de l’information. Nous montrons ensuite comment le savoir spatio-temporel est utilisé et insensible aux variations des ressources par analyse des patrons de déplacement et de revisite aux sites d’alimentation. Pour finir, nous élargissons notre champ de vision à travers plusieurs études multi-espèces se dessinant autour (a) d’une approche expérimentale, afin de relier stratégie de recherche alimentaire, cognition et degré de frugivorie chez les primates; (b) d’une revue d’opinion proposant une méthodologie standardisée pour comparer la cognition liée au déplacement des primates en milieu sauvage; (c) d’une approche phylogénétique, afin de comprendre l’influence de la sympatrie entre primates frugivores sur l’histoire évolutive de leur cognition et leur diversification. Cette thèse contribue ainsi à lever le voile sur les mécanismes proximaux et ultimes façonnant les stratégies de recherche de nourriture et les capacités cognitives chez les primates.
... In addition, spider monkeys may be more flexible to the degradation of their habitat than previously thought (Spaan, 2017). In the reserve, spider monkeys are not restricted to mature forest as they also use and travel on late successional forest fragments (30-50 years old; Ramos-Fernández and Ayala-Orozco, 2003;Ramos-Fernandez et al., 2013). This allows them to exploit a wide range of environments in a fragmented habitat. ...
As the world faces unprecedented ecological and social changes, there is a need to better understand the complex dynamics of social-ecological systems (SES) and the mechanisms that underlie their resilience. In Mexico, Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) constitute complex SES as they are generally established on territories that different peoples have historically inhabited and managed. They generally manage their resources following a multiple use strategy (MUS), which involves local traditional agricultural practices and has been proposed as a resilience-enhancing mechanism. In this paper we study the MUS as practiced by the Yucatec Maya communities that inhabit the NPA Otoch Ma'ax Yetel Kooh and its buffer zone in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Due to the restrictions imposed by the decree of the reserve and the growth of tourism in the region, some of these communities have started to abandon the MUS and specialize on tourism-related activities. To study the consequences of these changes and to better understand the mechanisms by which the MUS may enhance the resilience of this SES, we built an evidence-based dynamical computational model that allows us to explore different virtual scenarios. The model, through the incorporation of agent-based and boolean network modeling, explores the interaction between the forest, the monkey population and some productive activities done by the households (milpa agriculture, ecotourism, agriculture, charcoal production). We calibrated the model, explored its sensibility, compared it with empirical data and simulated different management scenarios. Our results support the hypothesis that the MUS enhances the resilience of this SES in terms of income and food availability, as it increases the system's response diversity and functional redundancy, thus reducing income variability and increasing the resistance to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. We also identify other possible mechanisms related with the MUS that provide a more nuanced understanding of the resilience of this SES. Our study, in addition to highlighting the importance of local management practices for resilience, also puts forward a novel integration of diverse mathematical formalisms and illustrates how computational modeling and a systems perspective are effective means of integrating and synthesizing information from different sources.
... To measure site fidelity, we followed the method employed by Ramos-Fernandez et al. (2013) and overlayed all monthly ranges to observe areas of repeated use. We then calculated the degree of site fidelity using an index (f) introduced by José-Domínguez et al. 2015: ...
Small apes are often characterized as inhabiting small home ranges and being dependent on evergreen forest due to their dietary specialization on ripe fruits. Yet few primate studies, particularly those with gibbons, have considered intraspecific variations in ranging behaviors in response to local ecological conditions. This study examines Endangered white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar) ranging patterns in a heterogeneous landscape. We conducted 13 months of behavioral observations on four white-handed gibbon groups living in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in western Thailand, and combine these data with group location and transect-based productivity data. We compare home range area, site fidelity, and microhabitat preferences. Home range (HR) area varied considerably among the four groups (17–61 hectares). Site fidelity was higher in one of the groups with more evergreen forest in the HR (0.72 ± 0.1) than one of the groups with very little evergreen forest in the habitat (0.47 ± 0.07). While groups with more evergreen forest in the HR preferred evergreen forest areas, groups with very little evergreen forest within the HR demonstrated less preference for evergreen forest areas. We conclude that gibbons at this site exhibit a considerable degree of behavioral variation in response to local ecological conditions. These findings suggest that while gibbons exhibit significant ecological flexibility, this flexibility may be limited by habitat type and key food resources.
... GLMM results of the effect of anthropogenic and natural habitat disturbance and ecological factors on spider monkey counts at 4 sites across the Yucatan Peninsula due to slash-and-burn agriculture and hurricanes (Bonilla-Moheno 2012; Chazdon 2014), and older forests are taller than younger forests(Dupuy et al. 2012). Our result, therefore, supports previous studies which have suggested the use of regenerating forest by spider monkeys(Chapman 1989;Ramos-Fernández et al. 2013;Arroyo-Rodríguez et al. 2017;Bolt et al. 2018), although they may prefer mature forest due to the higher availability of food(van Roosmalen and Klein, 1988). For instance, tree species important in their diet occur at much higher densities in mature compared to regenerating forest (e.g., 288 Brosimum alicastrum trees/ha in mature forest vs. 1 tree/ha in regenerating forest, Ramos-Fernández and Ayala-Orozco 2003). ...
Anthropogenic habitat disturbances are causing large-scale declines in animal abundance. For many species, information on the drivers of decline is lacking or restricted to single sites, despite calls for regional approaches. In this study, we determined the effect of different types of habitat disturbance (natural or anthropogenic) and ecological factors on Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) abundance using a regional approach. We selected this study species because of its high degree of social flexibility and its endangered status. We surveyed 4 sites in the Yucatan Peninsula and recorded the number of individual monkeys encountered along 72 line-transect segments each measuring 500 m. Habitat disturbance variables were obtained from open-access databases and included distance to roads, presence and number of hurricanes, forest loss, and presence of forest fires. Ecological factors were based on data collected during vegetation surveys and included number and basal area of feeding tree species, and canopy height. We ran generalized linear mixed models and found that monkey abundance was negatively affected by forest loss but positively affected by the basal area of feeding trees. We, therefore, suggest that a combination of anthropogenic and ecological factors affects spider monkey abundance. Spider monkey’s high degree of social flexibility may be a mechanism allowing them to adjust to changes in their environment when canopy connectivity is not lost. Our results provide policy and conservation decision makers with key information to develop regional conservation plans. Additionally, our methods can be used to identify the factors that affect the abundance of other mammal species.
... Territorial pair-living species tend to occupy a stable defended area that is assumed to include all the resources needed for survival and reproduction in the long term (Börger et al. 2008). Studies suggest that a pattern of stable use of an area over time, defined as site fidelity, is due to the predictability of food resources distribution (Asensio et al. 2012;Ramos-Fernandez et al. 2013). Furthermore, the presence of neighboring exclusive territories can limit the shift of territories over time, imposing a system of site fidelity. ...
... Consequently, site fidelity has implications for territoriality, because it can ensure limited investment in interactions with neighboring conspecifics (Bartlett et al. 2016). Studies of nonhuman primates have shown that when the habitat is not homogeneous, or resources are not evenly distributed in space and time, knowledge of food resource availability and distribution can make site fidelity advantageous (Janmaat et al. 2009;Ramos-Fernandez et al. 2013;Wartmann et al. 2014). Site fidelity appears weaker when food resources are abundant and evenly distributed, which is more common for folivorous species, such as gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) (Watts 1998a), although gorillas tend to limit foraging costs by balancing the intensity of use of an area with the regeneration of food resources (Watts 1998b). ...
... Unlike the indri, white-handed gibbons and spider monkeys are highly frugivorous, and the shift of core areas has been explained by changes in the availability preferred food over time (Asensio et al. 2014). In contrast, a long-term study of a different population of spider monkeys found that core areas were more stable than the home range, probably owing to high fidelity to high-quality habitat (Ramos-Fernandez et al. 2013). This suggests that intraspecific variation can be due to the spatial distribution of food resources (Ramos-Fernandez et al. 2013). ...
Territorial pair-living species tend to occupy and defend stable areas, assumed to contain all the resources needed for the lifetime of the group. Furthermore, groups have to mediate spatial relationships with neighboring groups. We investigated the relationship between social and spatial dynamics at the intra- and intergroup level in a pair-living territorial singing primate: the indri (Indri indri). We collected spatial data on three neighboring groups during 396 sampling days between 2009 and 2014 in Maromizaha forest, Madagascar. We evaluated the stability of territories in terms of size and location using minimum convex polygons, defined the presence and stability of core areas, and investigated if singing locations and intergroup encounters were concentrated in the core areas. Territories were generally stable in location and size, although some degree of territorial shift occurred, leading to readjustment of intergroup spacing. Groups had core areas that were not stable across years but were concentrated in the area of the territories that groups occupy consistently over time (stable areas). Singing locations were equally distributed inside and outside core areas, suggesting an even distribution through the territories; meanwhile 9 of 12 intergroup encounters took place in the core areas at the edge of territories. Together, our results support the pattern of territorial stability predicted for a pair-living species, where groups regulate territory exclusivity and spacing with neighbors. Singing behavior also plays an important role in mediating intergroup spatial dynamics. The spatial pattern we found in indris is comparable with that found in other territorial and pair-living primates with different ecological needs, suggesting that in addition to ecological factors, social dynamics influence intergroup spatial dynamics.
... During survey one (October 2014-January 2015) we used two transects of the same length (0.92 km; Spaan et al. 2017), located in areas where spider monkeys were sighted during the same season in previous years to maximize sightings. As spider monkey home ranges in OMYK change yearly (Ramos-Fernández et al. 2013) and seasonally (Smith-Aguilar et al. 2016), parts of the transects were located outside of the study period home range but were within the home range calculated for the entire 2014. Surveys were usually performed twice daily, and the same transect was not walked more than three times/ day. ...
... Distribution isopleths consist of sub-layers of convex polygons representing a certain proportion of the GPS points in the sample. For example, a 50% isopleth represents convex polygons that contain 50% of the GPS points (Ramos-Fernández et al. 2013). We defined the home range as the 95% isopleth, a definition previously used in studies of various species (Laver and Kelly 2008). ...
... These contrasting results may be explained by differences in survey design. The transects of survey one fell entirely within the home range of a habituated spider monkey group (Ramos-Fernández et al. 2013), whereas the transects of survey two extended beyond the home range of the habituated spider monkey group. Additionally, we performed fewer repeats of the same transects distributed over a full year for survey two, compared to a very high number of repeats restricted to the rainy season for survey one. ...
Population estimates are critical for making informed conservation decisions. However, methods for data collection and analysis of population estimates from wildlife surveys vary, often preventing comparisons between sites or years. In this study we compared population density estimates of spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi, derived from four commonly used methods to the actual density estimate based on known individual monkeys and home-range size and corroborated these results with surveys done on unhabituated monkeys in the same area. We recorded perpendicular distances of individual monkeys in the Otoch Ma’ax yetel Kooh Protected Area during two surveys: within the home range of an individually-recognized spider monkey group (survey one) and largely outside of the home range (survey two). We sighted 278 and 76 spider monkeys for a total effort of 93.74 and 42.78 km in surveys one and two, respectively. The actual density estimate was 65.4 individuals/km² (survey one). This value lies closer to the population density estimate obtained using the Kelker method (58.2 individuals/km²) than conventional distance sampling (CDS; 92.9–93.8 individuals/km²). Density estimates obtained with King and maximum perpendicular distance methods deviated substantially from the actual density. Population density estimates using the Kelker method and CDS differed less in survey two. Population density estimates differed little whether transects were walked slow or fast. We recommend using the Kelker method and CDS to estimate population density with a correction for distance estimation errors. We demonstrate how studies on populations of known size can improve the methods to survey populations of unknown size.
... This can be particularly plausible in the Uxpanapa region, which is composed of a higher amount of secondary forests and tree plantations in the matrix. Spider monkeys are able to use different tree covers in the matrix as supplementary resources (Ramos-Fernandez et al. 2013;Arroyo-Rodríguez et al. 2017b). This process is called ''landscape supplementation'' (sensu Dunning et al. 1992) and can contribute to increase the abundance and reproductive success of monkeys in patches surrounded by higher tree cover in the matrix (i.e. ...
Context
Understanding population responses to landscape structure is critical to improve landscape planning. Yet, large uncertainty remains about how such responses vary among regions with different disturbance intensity. This knowledge is particularly important for forest-specialist species, such as spider monkeys.
Objectives
Assessing the effect of landscape composition and configuration on the abundance and reproductive success of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in two fragmented rainforests with different land-use intensity.
Methods
We calculated the encounter rate (relative abundance) and immature-to-female ratio (reproductive success) of spider monkeys in two Mexican rainforest regions (12 forest patches per region, ~ 1140 h of field observations), and assessed their responses to three landscape predictors (forest cover, matrix functionality, and forest patch density) considering the scale of effect in each region.
Results
Spider monkeys showed different responses to landscape structure in each region. Encounter rate increased strongly with matrix functionality in the more disturbed region, and tended to be negatively impacted by patch density in the best-preserved region, but this latter association was weak. Forest cover was positively related to immature-to-female ratio in both regions, but such association was stronger in the best-preserved region.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that forest loss has stronger negative effects on spider monkeys than forest fragmentation, especially in best-preserved rainforests. Matrix composition is relatively more important in more disturbed regions, where monkeys may be pushed to use the matrix more frequently for feeding and/or traveling. Preventing forest loss and improving matrix quality should be a priority for the conservation of this endangered species.
