Dataset Information

Flower consumption, ambient temperature and rainfall modulate drinking behavior in a folivorous-frugivorous arboreal mammal.

ABSTRACT: Water is vital for the survival of any species because of its key role in most physiological processes. However, little is known about the non-food-related water sources exploited by arboreal mammals, the seasonality of their drinking behavior and its potential drivers, including diet composition, temperature, and rainfall. We investigated this subject in 14 wild groups of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting small, medium, and large Atlantic Forest fragments in southern Brazil. We found a wide variation in the mean rate of drinking among groups (range = 0-16 records/day). Streams (44% of 1,258 records) and treeholes (26%) were the major types of water sources, followed by bromeliads in the canopy (16%), pools (11%), and rivers (3%). The type of source influenced whether howlers used a hand to access the water or not. Drinking tended to be evenly distributed throughout the year, except for a slightly lower number of records in the spring than in the other seasons, but it was unevenly distributed during the day. It increased in the afternoon in all groups, particularly during temperature peaks around 15:00 and 17:00. We found via generalized linear mixed modelling that the daily frequency of drinking was mainly influenced negatively by flower consumption and positively by weekly rainfall and ambient temperature, whereas fragment size and the consumption of fruit and leaves played negligible roles. Overall, we confirm the importance of preformed water in flowers to satisfy the howler's water needs, whereas the influence of the climatic variables is compatible with the 'thermoregulation/dehydration-avoiding hypothesis'. In sum, we found that irrespective of habitat characteristics, brown howlers seem to seek a positive water balance by complementing the water present in the diet with drinking water, even when it is associated with a high predation risk in terrestrial sources.

SUBMITTER: Chaves OM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7894884 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Flower consumption, ambient temperature and rainfall modulate drinking behavior in a folivorous-frugivorous arboreal mammal.

Chaves Óscar M ÓM Fortes Vanessa B VB Hass Gabriela P GP Azevedo Renata B RB Stoner Kathryn E KE Bicca-Marques Júlio César JC

PloS one 20210219 2

Water is vital for the survival of any species because of its key role in most physiological processes. However, little is known about the non-food-related water sources exploited by arboreal mammals, the seasonality of their drinking behavior and its potential drivers, including diet composition, temperature, and rainfall. We investigated this subject in 14 wild groups of brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting small, medium, and large Atlantic Forest fragments in southern ...[more]

PMID: 33606693

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Project description:Background:Although navigating along a network of routes might constrain animal movement flexibility, it may be an energetically efficient strategy. Routinely using the same route allows for visually monitoring of food resources, which might reduce the cognitive load and as such facilitate the process of movement decision-making. Similarly, locating routes in areas that avoid costly landscape attributes will enhance their overall energy balance. In this study we determined the benefits of route navigation in an energy minimiser arboreal primate, the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra). Methods:We monitored five neighbouring groups of black howler monkeys at Palenque National Park, Mexico from September 2016 through August 2017. We recorded the location of the focal group every 20?m and mapped all travel paths to establish a route network (N?=?1528 travel bouts). We constructed linear mixed models to assess the influence of food resource distribution (N?=?931 trees) and landscape attributes (slope, elevation and presence of canopy gaps) on the location of routes within a route network. Results:The number of food trees that fell within the visual detection distance from the route network was higher (mean: 156.1?±?SD 44.9) than randomly simulated locations (mean: 121.9?±?SD 46.4). Similarly, the number of food trees found within the monkey's visual range per meter travelled increased, on overage, 0.35?±?SE 0.04 trees/m with increasing use of the route. In addition, route segments used at least twice were more likely to occur with increasing density of food resources and decreasing presence of canopy gaps. Route segments used at least four times were more likely to occur in elevated areas within the home ranges but only under conditions of reduced visual access to food resources. Conclusions:Route navigation emerged as an efficient movement strategy in a group-living arboreal primate. Highly used route segments potentially increased visual access to food resources while avoiding energetically costly landscape features securing foraging success in a tropical rainforest.

Dataset Information

Flower consumption, ambient temperature and rainfall modulate drinking behavior in a folivorous-frugivorous arboreal mammal.

Publications

Flower consumption, ambient temperature and rainfall modulate drinking behavior in a folivorous-frugivorous arboreal mammal.

Similar Datasets

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