Behavior and ecology of the White-footed tamarin (Saguinus leucopus) in a fragmented landscape of Colombia: Small bodied Primates and Seed dispersal in Neotropical Forests

Tamarins are small-bodied Neotropical primates that mainly feed on ripe fruits and insects, and supplement their diet with plant exudates, nectar, fungi and vertebrate prey. They are important seed dispersers in Neotropical forests as they are able to disperse a large number of small and medium-size...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tropical conservation science 2016-06, Vol.9 (2), p.788-808
Main Authors: Luna Gabriela de, A, García-Morera, Yesenia, Link, Andrés
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activity patterns
Animal behavior
Diet
Dispersal
Dispersion
Ecology
Exudates
Exudation
Feeding behavior
Forest productivity
Forests
fragmentation
Fragments
Fruits
Fungi
Habitat fragmentation
Home range
Insects
Landscape
Nectar
Pasture
Plant diversity
Prey
primate behavioral ecology
Primates
Ranging behavior
Saguinus leucopus
Scarcity
Seed dispersal
Seeds
Trees
Tropical forests
Vertebrates
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Summary:Tamarins are small-bodied Neotropical primates that mainly feed on ripe fruits and insects, and supplement their diet with plant exudates, nectar, fungi and vertebrate prey. They are important seed dispersers in Neotropical forests as they are able to disperse a large number of small and medium-sized seeds from parental trees. In this paper, we describe the diet of the white-footed tamarin (Saguinus leucopus) and its role as seed disperser in a fragmented landscape in Colombia. During a twelve month period, we collected data on activity patterns, ranging behavior and feeding ecology, as well as on habitat-wide forest productivity. S. leucopus fed from >95 plant species and spent 17% of their time feeding. We found a positive relationship between fruit consumption and ripe-fruit availability. Dietary diversity increased during periods of fruit scarcity, when the tamarins fed more on insects and exudates. During periods of fruit scarcity, they relied more heavily on the borders of forest fragments and made occasional incursions into adjacent fragments across a matrix of pastures. They used larger areas and had larger overlapping home ranges during periods of fruit scarcity. We recovered at least 44 species of seeds effectively dispersed by tamarins, including small and medium-sized seeds (range
ISSN:1940-0829
1940-0829
DOI:10.1177/194008291600900214