Lemurs on a sinking raft? : The ballast of anthropogenic disturbances

Prins, H.H.T.; Heitkonig, I.M.A.; Hooft, W.F. van; Winter, I.I. de

doi:10.18174/449281

Cited by 1 publication

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“…These disturbances can result in dramatic alterations to forest spatial composition, consequently altering biotic and ecological processes, such as increasing light intensity after gaps are formed in the canopy, higher soil temperature, changes to new growth communities, asynchronous fruit production, and reducing species richness and density (Lewis & Axel, 2019; Lugo, 2008; Metcalfe et al, 2008; Turner, 1989). Tropical storms, which are most prominent during certain seasons, and anthropogenic disturbances can also interact in complex ways to synergistically impact ecosystems in which primates reside (De Winter, 2018; Turner, 2010). As such, there is an increasing need to understand how primates living in these altered environments respond to rapid habitat changes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of seasonality, anthropogenic disturbances, and cyclonic activity on the behavior of northern sportive lemurs (Lepilemur septentrionalis) at Montagne des Français, Madagascar

Dinsmore

Strier

Louis

2021

American J Primatol

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Anthropogenic tropical deforestation and degradation imminently threaten primates today. Primates living in these disturbed habitats may also be subjected to increasingly severe tropical storms such as cyclones or hurricanes. These disturbances pose an immediate risk to their livelihood and can dramatically alter their habitats, in turn potentially shifting behavioral patterns. We had the unique opportunity to study the effects of seasonality, anthropogenic disturbances, and the immediate effects of a cyclone on the behavior of the critically endangered northern sportive lemur (NSL) in an anthropogenically disturbed forest in Madagascar. Cyclone Enawo made landfall on March 7, 2017 in northeast Madagascar with sustained wind speeds of 230 km/h. We collected behavioral data on nine individual NSLs during both wet and dry seasons, before and after Cyclone Enawo, and in areas of differing human activity, using scan sampling at 5-min intervals. We ran generalized linear mixed models to test the effects of seasonality and disturbances on behavior. We found that NSLs spent more time feeding in dry months compared with wet (Z = −4.21, p < 0.001). More specifically, they spent more time-consuming leaves and vine species in the dry season (Z = −2.26, p = 0.02; Z = −2.3; p = 0.02). We also found that NSLs were observed at lower heights in trees after the cyclone (Z = −2.45; p = 0.016) and spent more time in the interior portions of trees (Z = 3.44; p < 0.001), perhaps due to extensive limb damage of emergent trees documented after the cyclone. Our analyses show that seasonality affected most aspects of NSL behavior, followed by the effects of Cyclone Enawo, with anthropogenic disturbances having little effect.Our data suggest that the behavioral flexibility of NSLs in response to predictable seasonality may enable them to respond similarly to stochastic climatic disturbances.However, their generalist diet may allow them to persist in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes without the need to greatly alter their behavior.

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