Population ecology of vervet monkeys in a high latitude, semi-arid riparian woodland

Abstract

Narrow riparian woodlands along non-perennial streams have made it possible for vervet monkeys to penetrate the semi-arid karoo ecosystem of South Africa, whilst artificial water points have more recently allowed these populations to colonize much more marginal habitat away from natural water sources. In order to better understand the sequelae of life in these narrow, linear woodlands for historically ‘natural’ populations and to test the prediction that they are ecologically stressed, we determined the size of troops in relation to their reliance on natural and artificial water sources and collected detailed data from two river-centred troops on activity, diet and ranging behaviour over an annual cycle. In comparison to other populations, our data indicate that river-centred troops in the karoo were distinctive primarily both for their large group sizes and, consequently, their large adult cohorts, and in the extent of home range overlap in what is regarded as a territorial species. Whilst large group size carried the corollary of increased day journey length and longer estimated interbirth intervals, there was little other indication of the effects of ecological stress on factors such as body weight and foraging effort. We argue that this was a consequence of the high density of Acacia karroo, which accounted for a third of annual foraging effort in what was a relatively depauperate floristic habitat. We ascribed the large group size and home range overlap to constraints on group fission.Conservation implications: The distribution of group sizes, sampled appropriately across habitats within a conservation area, will be of more relevance to management than average values, which may be nothing more than a statistical artefact, especially when troop sizes are bimodally distributed.

Scalar social dynamics in female vervet monkey cohorts

“…This is corroborated by a recent examination of environmental constraints on fission probability in this population [17] and, according to the conventional view, indicates that these are animals experiencing demographic stress. In line with this, Samara females experienced higher rates of feeding competition than those at Amboseli.…”

“…Indeed, of all surveyed populations, the historical Amboseli population resembles Samara most closely, with one valuable exception. Although population densities are very similar [17], the three Amboseli troops (AmbA, AmbB, AmbC) studied by Seyfarth [8] were very much smaller (N AmbA ¼ 29,…”

Behavioral flexibility of vervet monkeys in response to climatic and social variability

“…The hottest and wettest time of the year is from November to March and the coldest and driest time of the year occurs between June and August. All study animals were habituated to the presence of human observers, were individually recognizable, and lived on a completely natural diet (Pasternak et al, 2013). This study was entirely observational and did not affect the welfare of our study animals.…”

“…Our study region is characterized as semiarid riparian woodland, where our study animals feed predominantly on seeds, flowers, leaves, berries, gums, and insects. For more details of their diet, see Pasternak et al (2013). Vervet monkeys live in multimale, multifemale societies (e.g., Isbell et al, 1991).…”

Phytosociological Studies on Tree Species of Peddagattu and Sherepally Area, a Proposed Site for Uranium Mining Project, Nalgonda District, Telangana State, India

“…Modern scientific society uses Phytosociology either to form the background of scientific studies on animals [5,6,7] or to define different plant communities, which could be unique in the sense of rare or endangered plant species occurrence and distribution [8,9,10]. The present study was undertaken to determine the phytosociolgical studies on tree diversity in Peddagattu and Sherepally area, a proposed site for Uranium mining project in Nalgonda district, Telangana State, India.…”