Linking feeding ecology and population abundance: a review of food resource limitation on primates
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O SH IM A A WA RD
Goro Hanya • Colin A. Chapman
Linking feeding ecology and population abundance: a review of food resource limitation on primates
Received: 2 July 2012 / Accepted: 22 November 2012 / Published online: 12 December 2012 Ó The Ecological Society of Japan 2012
Abstract We review studies that consider how food affects primate population abundance. In order to explain spatial variation in primate abundance, various correlates that parameterize quality and quantity of food in the habitat have been examined. We propose two hypotheses concerning how resource availability and its seasonality determine animal abundance. When the quality of fallback foods (foods eaten during the scarcity of preferred foods) is too low to satisfy nutritional requirement, total annual food quantity should determine population size, but this relationship can be modified by the quality or the quantity of fallback foods. This mechanism has been established for Japanese macaques and sportive lemurs that survive lean seasons by fat storage or extremely low metabolism. Second, when fallback food quality is high enough to satisfy nutritional requirement but quantity is limited, quantity of fallback food should be a limiting factor of animal abundance. This is supported by the correlation between fig density, which is a high-quality fallback food, and gibbon and orangutan abundance. For a direct test of these hypotheses, we need more research that determines both the quality of food that animals require to satisfy their nutritional requirement and the quantity of food production. Leaves are often regarded as superabundant, but this assumption needs careful examination. Keywords Bottleneck Æ Population density Æ Fallback food Æ Nutrition Æ Seasonality
Goro Hanya is the recipient of the 5th Yasuyuki Oshima Award. G. Hanya (&) Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +81-568-630542 Fax: +81-568-630564 C. A. Chapman Department of Anthropology and McGill School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Introduction One of the primary goals in animal ecology is to reveal how environmental factors determine animal abundance. This topic has recently taken on a heightened significant as many animal populations are declining under increasing human pressure, and understanding the factors affecting their populations is necessary for conservation and management. Although various factors, such as climate (Iwamoto and Dunbar 1983; Barton and Zalewski 2007), predation (Peek 1980; Isbell 1990), and stress or disease (Milton 1996; Harvell et al. 1999; Berger et al. 2001; Chapman et al. 2006), can affect animal abundance, the effect of food has typically been considered of paramount importance. Primates are ideal subjects to study both animal abundance and feeding ecology. Since they are diurnal and standardized census methods are established (National Research Council 1981; Whitesides et al. 1988), comparable data on abundance are available for many species, often from a num
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