Nutritional ecology and predator sensitive foraging in sympatric Lemur catta and propithecus verreauxi verreauxi in spiny and scrub forest habitats in southern Madagascar

拟议的项目扩大了我以前的工作有关的成本和效益的组生活在灵长类动物，这一次检查性别和生殖状态的差异，在饮食中共存的环尾狐猴和Verreaux的狐猴在南部马达加斯加的灌木丛和多刺的森林栖息地，并调查捕食者敏感的觅食策略，在这些物种。马达加斯加南部的极端资源季节性导致了显着的生殖同步性的演变，高能量的要求放在生殖女性在食物稀缺的时候。为了确定这些女性如何科普这些需求，我将调查是否营养摄入量，时间花在喂养，和食物摄入量不同的生殖女性和非生殖组成员内和物种之间。每个物种的饮食中含有大量的单宁，这可能有利于生殖女性，因为它的抗流产，抗寄生虫，和泌乳促进性能，因此，我也将测试是否存在性别和生殖状态差异单宁消费。因为这两个物种都容易受到捕食在开放的灌木丛和多刺的森林栖息地，我将研究组的大小和繁殖状态对捕食者敏感的觅食策略（如警惕和群体凝聚力模式，而在不同大小的群体和不同地区的栖息地觅食）的影响。从这个项目的结果可以与类似的研究相同的物种在截然不同的画廊森林栖息地进行比较，并可以阐明栖息地的变化是否以及如何影响营养和觅食之间的差异生殖和非生殖动物种群内和种群之间。这项研究的信息还有助于解释同域哺乳动物物种的进食和觅食模式的演变，特别是在马达加斯加的灌木丛和多刺森林等恶劣的季节性环境中，以及这些模式最终如何影响生殖成功。

The proposed project expands upon my previous work related to costs and benefits of group living in primates, this time examining sex and reproductive state differences in diet in co-existing ring-tailed lemurs and Verreaux's sifaka in a scrub and spiny forest habitats in southern Madagascar, and investigating predator-sensitive foraging strategies in these species. Extreme resource seasonality in southern Madagascar has led to the evolution of marked reproductive synchrony, with high energetic demands placed upon reproductive females at a time when food is scarce. To determine how such females cope with these demands, I will investigate whether nutrient intake, time spent feeding, and amount of food ingested differs between reproductive females and non-reproductive group members both within and between species. The diet of each species contains high amounts of tannins, which can potentially benefit reproductive females because of its anti-abortive, anti-parasitic, and lactation promoting properties, thus, I will also test whether sex and reproductive state differences exist in tannin consumption. Because both species are vulnerable to predation in open scrub and spiny forest habitats, I will examine effects of group size and reproductive state on predator sensitive foraging strategies (e.g. vigilance and group cohesion patterns while foraging in different sized groups and in different areas of the habitat). Results from this project can be compared with similar studies of the same species in vastly different gallery forest habitat, and can elucidate if and how habitat variation influences nutritional and foraging differences between reproductive and non-reproductive animals both within and between populations. Information from the study can also help explain the evolution of feeding and foraging patterns in sympatric mammalian species, particularly in harsh seasonal environments such as Madagascar's scrub and spiny forests, and how such patterns may ultimately affect reproductive success.