TY - JOUR

T1 - Arboreal monkeys facilitate foraging of terrestrial frugivores

AU - Havmøller, Linnea W.

AU - Loftus, J. Carter

AU - Havmøller, Rasmus W.

AU - Alavi, Shauhin E.

AU - Caillaud, Damien

AU - Grote, Mark N.

AU - Hirsch, Ben T.

AU - Tórrez-Herrera, Lucia L.

AU - Kays, Roland

AU - Crofoot, Margaret C.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Biotropica published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Terrestrial animals feed on fruit dropped by arboreal frugivores in tropical forests around the world, but it remains unknown whether the resulting spatial associations of these animals are coincidental or intentionally maintained. On Barro Colorado Island, Panama, we used a combination of acoustic playback experiments, remote camera monitoring, and GPS tracking to quantify the frequency of such interactions, determine who initiates and maintains spatial associations, and test whether terrestrial animals adopt a strategy of acoustic eavesdropping to locate fruit patches created by foraging primates. Indeed, 90% of fruits collected in fruit fall traps had tooth marks of arboreal frugivores, and terrestrial frugivores visited fruit trees sooner following visits by GPS-collared monkeys. While our play back experiments were insufficient to support the hypothesis that terrestrial frugivores use auditory cues to locate food dropped by arboreal primates, analyses of movement paths of capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus), spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), and coatis (Nasua narica) reveal that observed patterns of interspecific attraction are not merely a byproduct of mutual attraction to shared resources. Coatis were significantly more likely to initiate close encounters with arboreal primates than vice versa and maintained these associations by spending significantly longer periods at fruiting trees when collared primates were present. Our results demonstrate that terrestrial frugivores are attracted to arboreal primates, likely because they increase local resource availability. Primates are often among the first species in a habitat to be extirpated by hunting; our results suggest that their loss may have unanticipated consequences for the frugivore community. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.

AB - Terrestrial animals feed on fruit dropped by arboreal frugivores in tropical forests around the world, but it remains unknown whether the resulting spatial associations of these animals are coincidental or intentionally maintained. On Barro Colorado Island, Panama, we used a combination of acoustic playback experiments, remote camera monitoring, and GPS tracking to quantify the frequency of such interactions, determine who initiates and maintains spatial associations, and test whether terrestrial animals adopt a strategy of acoustic eavesdropping to locate fruit patches created by foraging primates. Indeed, 90% of fruits collected in fruit fall traps had tooth marks of arboreal frugivores, and terrestrial frugivores visited fruit trees sooner following visits by GPS-collared monkeys. While our play back experiments were insufficient to support the hypothesis that terrestrial frugivores use auditory cues to locate food dropped by arboreal primates, analyses of movement paths of capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus), spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), and coatis (Nasua narica) reveal that observed patterns of interspecific attraction are not merely a byproduct of mutual attraction to shared resources. Coatis were significantly more likely to initiate close encounters with arboreal primates than vice versa and maintained these associations by spending significantly longer periods at fruiting trees when collared primates were present. Our results demonstrate that terrestrial frugivores are attracted to arboreal primates, likely because they increase local resource availability. Primates are often among the first species in a habitat to be extirpated by hunting; our results suggest that their loss may have unanticipated consequences for the frugivore community. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.

KW - attraction

KW - camera trapping

KW - eavesdropping

KW - GPS tracking

KW - interspecific associations

KW - Panama

KW - tropical forest

U2 - 10.1111/btp.13017

DO - 10.1111/btp.13017

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85115083604

VL - 53

SP - 1685

EP - 1697

JO - Biotropica

JF - Biotropica

SN - 0006-3606

IS - 6

ER -