Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ranging Behavior, Group Cohesiveness, and Patch Use in Chiropotes Satanas Chiropotes

在过去的二十年里，灵长类动物的摄食竞争、种群大小和生态条件之间的关系一直是人们深入研究的主题。具体来说，研究人员关注的是食物资源的分布和可用性对分组模式和范围行为的影响。一些灵长类动物依靠亚群来减少群体内的觅食竞争，而亚群的大小被认为与觅食斑块的大小高度相关。然而，在以往的灵长类行为生态学研究中，量化灵长类动物利用的取食资源的分布和质量一直是一个难点。本研究旨在阐明食物资源的分布和可得性对棕须猴类群模式和迁徙行为的影响。长须僧面猴是几种依靠亚群来减轻捕食竞争的灵长类动物之一。这些灵长类动物在研究中表现出许多不同的群体分裂模式。不幸的是，Chiropotes属的成员是研究最少的新热带灵长类动物之一，很少有长期研究在大片未受干扰的低地雨林中进行。本研究的主要目的是利用地理信息系统（GIS）来检验与类群分裂模式和分布行为有关的假设。GIS将用于量化长须崎取食地的大小和质量，以评估长须崎通过群体裂变缓解取食竞争的程度。本研究在灵长类动物行为生态学和保护生物学领域具有一定的学术价值。通过使用GIS，本研究将以一种强大的新技术来检验生态变量对灵长类动物社会性影响的基本理论。这项研究将是第一个使用GIS来量化食物斑块和群体裂变的研究，并将为进一步研究这种关系提供一个模型。此外，这项研究将加强我们对在圭亚那这个非常有趣，但却很少被描述的国家中相对未被研究的胡须saki的理解。圭亚那的热带雨林是世界上受干扰最少的地区之一，许多地区支持着八种灵长类动物的群落。本研究收集的自然历史数据将揭示灵长类动物对不同生态条件的反应方式，并有助于完善灵长类动物社会性决定因素的理论。最后，这项研究将鼓励保护热带世界最未受干扰的地区之一。

The relationship between feeding competition, primate group size, and ecological conditions has been the subject of intensive study for the past two decades. Specifically, researchers have focused on the effect of the distribution and availability of food resources on grouping patterns and ranging behavior. Several species of primates rely on subgrouping to reduce feeding competition within the group, and subgroup size is thought to be highly correlated with the size of feeding patches. However, quantifying the distribution and quality of feeding resources utilized by primates has been difficult in previous studies of primate behavioral ecology. This study aims to clarify the effect of the distribution and availability of food resources on grouping patterns and ranging behavior in the brown bearded saki Chiropotes satanas chiropotes. Bearded sakis are one of several primate species that rely on subgrouping to mitigate feeding competition. These primates exhibit a number of different patterns of group fissioning across studies. Unfortunately, members of the genus Chiropotes are among the least studied neotropical primates and few long term studies have been conducted in large tracts of undisturbed, lowland rainforest. The primary objective of this research is to test hypotheses relating group fissioning patterns and ranging behavior in Chiropotes satanas chiropotes to resource distribution and availability using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GIS will be used to quantify the size and quality of bearded saki feeding patches to assess the extent to which bearded sakis mitigate feeding competition through group fissioning. This research has intellectual merit in the fields of primate behavioral ecology and conservation biology. Through the use of GIS, this study will test fundamental theories of the influence of ecological variables on primate sociality with a powerful new technology. This study will be one of the first to use GIS to quantify food patch and group fissioning, and will provide a model for further studies on such relationships. In addition, this research will enhance our understanding of the relatively unstudied bearded saki in the highly interesting, yet poorly described country of Guyana. Guyana's rainforests are among the least disturbed in the world and many areas support communities of eight species of primates. The natural history data collected in this study will shed light on the ways primates respond to different ecological conditions and help refine theories of the determinants of primate sociality. Finally, this research will encourage the conservation of one of the most undisturbed regions in the tropical world.