Primate community structure at twenty western Amazonian flooded and unflooded forests

Abstract

This paper presents data from a standardized series of line-transect censuses on the species and subspecies composition, population density, and crude biomass of western Amazonian primate communities occurring at eight flooded (= vázea) and 12 unflooded (= terra firme) forests. These were located primarily along one of the largest white-water tributaries of the Amazon (= Solimōes), the Juruá river. On average, terra firme forests contained twice as many primate species, lower population densities, and less than half of the total community biomass than did adjacent várzea forests. There was a clear habitat-dependent positive association among primate species, particularly within várzea forests, as well as marked shifts in guild structure between forest types. Species turnover between these two forest types involved primarily understorey insectivores (e.g. Saguinus sp.), which do not occur in seasonally inundated forest. These were consistently replaced by squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sp.), which are extremely abundant in annually flooded várzea forests. Similarly, large-bodied folivores such as red howler monkeys (Alouatta seniculus) were uncommon or rare in terra firme forests, but very abundant in várzea forests, even though they are hunted less intensively in the former than in the latter. This can be largely explained by the nutrient-rich alluvial soils of young floodplains, compared to the heavily weathered terra firme soils occurring even within short distances of major white-water rivers. This study clearly shows a reversed diversity/density pattern resulting from the lower species richness, but high overall community biomass of seasonally flooded Amazonian forests, which can now be generalized for a wide range of terrestrial vertebrate taxa, including amphibians, birds, and several other orders of mammals.

Primate community of the tropical rain forests of Saracá-Taqüera National Forest, Pará, Brazil

“…The number of sightings for the species of the genus Saguinus, Saimiri and Pithecia were less when compared to these same studies. For the species Cebus apella our sightings were similar to those found by Peres (1997) and Parry et al, (2007) (Table 3).…”

“…The number of sightings in our study was greater than all "terra firme" sites surveyed by Peres (1997) Oliveira et al, 2004;3. Hershkovitz, 1977;4.…”

Mudanças no Código Florestal e seu impacto na ecologia e diversidade dos mamíferos no Brasil

“…As comunidades de mamíferos das florestas sazonalmente inundadas na Amazônia são bastante diferenciadas das comunidades de mamíferos de florestas de terra firme adjacentes, em termos de composição, abundância e biomassa, com um predomínio de mamíferos arborícolas (Haugaasen & Peres 2005). Além disso, várias espécies de primatas, roedores e marsupiais ocorrem preferencialmente ou exclusivamente nas florestas de várzea (Peres 1997, Malcolm et al 2005, cuja produtividade pode ser 2 a 4 vezes mais alta que florestas de terra firme adjacentes (Haugaasen & Peres 2005).…”

Abundance of Conepatus chinga (Carnivora, Mephitidae) and other medium-sized mammals in grasslands of southern Brazil

“…In Brazil, this method has been used in aerial counts of marsh deer Blastocerus dichotomus (Illiger, 1815) (e.g., sChaller & VasConCelos, 1978Pinder, 1997;Mourão et al, 2000;andriolo, 2005), and boat counts for cetaceans (e.g., CreMer & siMões-loPes, 2008;FlaCh et al, 2008). Transect lines on the ground are used basically to estimate densities of primates (e.g., Peres, 1997;González-solís et al, 2001;santana et al, 2008). Carnivores are inherently less abundant than herbivores (eisenberG, 1999), and usually hard to see, making it difficult to apply these methods.…”