Predation on primates: Ecological patterns and evolutionary consequences
Predation on primates: Ecological patterns and evolutionary consequences
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DOI：
10.1002/evan.1360030207
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发表时间：
1994-01-01
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Isbell, Lynne A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Isbell, Lynne A.
长期以来，人们一直认为捕食对作为猎物的灵长类动物产生了重要的生态和进化影响。在现代灵长类动物中，主动防御、隐藏、警惕、逃跑和报警等行为被归因于捕食的选择压力，群体生活本身也是如此。很明显，灵长类动物和其他动物一样，已经进化出了最小化被捕食风险的方法。然而，鉴于其他生活限制，如他们自己需要获得食物，他们能够在多大程度上这样做，尚未得到解决。也许最激烈的争论是捕食是否是灵长类动物群体进化的主要选择力。解决这一争论的部分困难在于缺乏捕食的直接证据。这是令人遗憾但可以理解的，因为灵长类动物学家，根据定义，专注于灵长类动物的研究，而不是灵长类动物的捕食者（除非这些也是灵长类动物）。捕食效应的系统性直接证据最好通过研究捕食者来获得，这些捕食者就像它们的灵长类猎物一样习惯于观察者。在此之前，我们必须继续依靠捕食和捕食企图的机会主义解释，以及系统获得的间接证据。这些数据揭示了几个有趣的模式：（1）虽然较小的灵长类动物可能比较大的灵长类动物有更大的捕食率，但即使是最大的灵长类动物也不是不受捕食的影响;（2）灵长类动物使用不熟悉的区域可能导致更高的捕食率，这可能是一种有利于philopatry的压力，或地点忠诚度;（3）树栖灵长类动物暴露在更高的环境中时，（4）哺乳类食肉动物的捕食可能是间歇性的;（5）陆生灵长类动物可能没有比树栖灵长类动物经历更大的捕食。
It has long been thought that predation has had important ecological and evolutionary effects on primates as prey. Predation has been theorized to have been a major selective force in the evolution of hominids.1In modern primates, behaviors such as active defense, concealment, vigilance, flight, and alarm calls have been attributed to the selective pressures of predation, as has group living itself. It is clear that primates, like other animals, have evolved ways to minimize their risk of predation. However, the extent to which they have been able to do so, given other constraints of living such as their own need to acquire food, has not yet been resolved. Perhaps most hotly debated is whether predation has been the primary selective force favoring the evolution of group living in primates. Part of the difficulty in resolving the debate lies in a paucity of direct evidence of predation. This is regrettable yet understandable since primatologists, by definition, focus on the study of primates, not predators of primates (unless these are also primates). Systematic direct evidence of the effects of predation can best be obtained by studying predators that are as habituated to observers as are their primate prey. Until this is done, we must continue to rely on opportunistic accounts of predation and predation attempts, and on systematically obtained indirect evidence. Such data reveal several interesting patterns: (1) although smaller primates may have greater predation rates than larger primates, even the largest primates are not invulnerable to predation; (2) the use by primates of unfamiliar areas can result in higher predation rates, which might be one pressure favoring philopatry, or site fidelity; (3) arboreal primates are at greater risk of predation when they are more exposed (at forest edges and tops of canopies) than in more concealed locations; (4) predation by mammalian carnivores may often be episodic; and (5) terrestrial primates may not experience greater predation than arboreal primates.