Howler monkey tolerance to habitat shrinking: Lifetime warranty or death sentence?

Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to the conservation of nonhuman primates. Given that species differ in their responses to fragmented landscapes, identifying the factors that enable them to cope with altered environments or that cause their extirpation is critical to design conservation management strategies. Howler monkeys (Alouatta spp.) are good models for studying the strategies of tolerant arboreal taxa and how they cope with spatial restriction, because they live in habitats ranging from vast pristine forests to small

The occurrence of the red‐handed howler monkey (Alouatta belzebul) in amazonian savannas is related to forest patch area and density of flooded area palms

“…Alouatta belzebul tolerated the variation in the structural configurations of forest patches we found in our sample. Howler monkeys are known to tolerate variation in the structure of the forests they occupy, including different degrees of disturbance, due to their dietary flexibility (Bicca‐Marques et al, 2020; Bicca‐Marques, 2003). They cope with food scarcity by adjusting their diet to the species available, and relying on the consumption of leaves, a relatively stable and abundant source of food in forests when fruits are scarce (Bicca‐Marques, 2003).…”

“…Howlers can include exotic species in their diet (Bicca‐Marques, 2003) and survive on an almost entirely folivorous diet during lean periods (Pavelka & Knopff, 2004). They may also survive in small (<5 ha) forest fragments, helping them to cope with forest fragmentation (Bicca‐Marques et al, 2020; Rodriguez‐Toledo et al, 2003). However, fragmentation has potentially negative effects on howler populations, which may include reduced food availability in the small fragments and higher levels of physiological stress, competition, parasite load, and hunting pressure (Arroyo‐Rodríguez & Dias, 2010; Rimbach et al, 2013).…”

Effects of variation in forest fragment habitat on black howler monkey demography in the unprotected landscape around Palenque National Park, Mexico

“…Black howlers are generally considered adaptable to habitat fragmentation. Groups are found in very small forest fragments (<2 ha; Rangel-Negrín et al, 2018 ; Klass, Van Belle & Estrada, 2020 ), and black howlers display considerable flexibility in their folivorous/frugivorous diet, which may allow them to persist in degraded habitat ( Dias et al, 2014 ; Bicca-Marques, Chaves & Pacheco Hass, 2020 ). However, they prefer tall trees (>15 m in height; Gonzalez-Kirchner, 1998 ), which may be rarer in small or secondary growth fragments.…”

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“…Junto ao fato de ser um dos gêneros de primata Neotropical mais bem-estudados, ele é um excelente gênero para se estudar as variações e similaridades inter e intragenéricas (CROCKETT & EINSENBERG, 1987), bem como se estudar os diferentes efeitos da fragmentação da sua ecologia e comportamento (e.g. BICCA-MARQUES et al, 2020).…”

“…No caso de A. guariba, 34% dos estudos (SOBRAL, 2020, presente tese) estão concentrados em fragmentos pequenos (<100 ha, segundo RIBEIRO et al, 2009), ao passo que estudos em ambientes grandes permanecem escassos, com apenas um realizado em um fragmento de 45.000 ha (STEINMETZ, 2000), possivelmente porque há poucos remanescentes naturais intactos no mundo para se conduzir pesquisa com primatas . No contexto atual de perda e destruição de habitat pelas atividades humanas, esse conhecimento é um ponto de partida primordial para delinear as consequências dos diferentes graus de mudança ambiental na ecologia dos animais (BICCA-MARQUES et al, 2020).…”