Abstract
This chapter introduces students to howler monkey feeding ecology, via a case study conducted at Sector Santa Rose, Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), Costa Rica. A variety of methods and analyses are used to answer questions related to the use of trees, food species, and home range, by a group of free-ranging mantled howler monkeys. Since howler monkeys are found throughout Central America and the methods can be used/adapted for any species of arboreal animal, this chapter will be useful to students learning to collect behavioral/ecological data in introductory field courses, as well as those conducting basic or advanced field projects. For those students studying or researching howler monkeys, the case study provides a review of the relevant literature, data collection and analytical methods, and known food species.
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Notes
- 1.
Since trees were mature, for the most part, it was fairly easy to estimate crown size of individual species, especially since crown size categories were in ordinal form.
- 2.
While I do not have corresponding data on crop size in unused trees and thus cannot rule out the possibility that the animals may have avoided small crops in some species, I also found no preference for larger food crops in a less preferred leaf source species, H. courbaril (see Welker, 2004).
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Acknowledgments
Funding for the fieldwork was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Sigma Xi, SUNY Buffalo and Geneseo, and the Trimble Corp. Special thanks to the funding agencies; the administration of Sector Santa Rosa for permission to conduct research, guidance and support, and the use of the facilities; Carol Berman, Linda Fedigan, and Ken Glander for assistance in and out of the field; and my field assistants, Bertha Fearon, Graeme Hunt, and Tanya Smith.
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Welker, B. (2015). Factors Involved in Variation in Tree and Species Use by Mantled Howler Monkeys: A Case Study of Resource Use in Sector Santa Rosa, Área de Conservación, Costa Rica. In: Huettmann, F. (eds) Central American Biodiversity. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2208-6_21
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