Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2022
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Factors influencing terrestriality in primates of the Americas and Madagascar
Eppley, Timothy M.; Hoeks, Selwyn; Chapman, Colin A.; Ganzhorn, Jorg U.; Hall, Katie; Owen, Megan A.; Adams, Dara B.; Allgas, Nestor; Amato, Katherine R.; Andriamahaihavana, McAntonin; Aristizabal, John F.; Baden, Andrea L.; Balestri, Michela; Barnett, Adrian A.; Bicca-Marques, Julio Cesar; Bowler, Mark; Boyle, Sarah A.; Brown, Meredith; Caillaud, Damien; Calegaro-Marques, Claudia;Show more authors
Abstract
Among mammals, the order Primates is exceptional in having a high taxonomic richness in which the taxa are arboreal, semiterrestrial, or terrestrial. Although habitual terrestriality is pervasive among the apes and African and Asian monkeys (catarrhines), it is largely absent among monkeys of the Americas (platyrrhines), as well as galagos, lemurs, and lorises (strepsirrhines), which are mostly arboreal. Numerous ecological drivers and species-specific factors are suggested to set the conditions for an evolutionary shift from arboreality to terrestriality, and current environmental conditions may provide analogous scenarios to those transitional periods. Therefore, we investigated predominantly arboreal, diurnal primate genera from the Americas and Madagascar that lack fully terrestrial taxa, to determine whether ecological drivers (habitat canopy cover, predation risk, maximum temperature, precipitation, primate species richness, human population density, and distance to roads) or species-specific traits (bodymass, group size, and degree of frugivory) associate with increased terrestriality. We collated 150,961 observation hours across 2,227 months from 47 species at 20 sites in Madagascar and 48 sites in the Americas. Multiple factors were associated with ground use in these otherwise arboreal species, including increased temperature, a decrease in canopy cover, a dietary shift away from frugivory, and larger group size. These factors mostly explain intraspecific differences in terrestriality. As humanity modifies habitats and causes climate change, our results suggest that species already inhabiting hot, sparsely canopied sites, and exhibiting more generalized diets, are more likely to shift toward greater ground use.Keywords
primate communities; primate evolution; evolutionary transitions; niche shift; climate changePublished in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences2022, volume: 119, number: 42, article number: e2121105119
Authors' information
Eppley, Timothy M.
Portland State University
Hoeks, Selwyn
Radboud University Nijmegen
Chapman, Colin A.
University of Kwazulu Natal
Chapman, Colin A.
Northwest University Xi'an
Chapman, Colin A.
George Washington University
Ganzhorn, Jorg U.
University of Hamburg
Adams, Dara B.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
Adams, Dara B.
Ohio State University
Amato, Katherine R.
Northwestern University
Aristizabal, John F.
Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez
Aristizabal, John F.
Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
Baden, Andrea L.
Hunter College (CUNY)
Balestri, Michela
Oxford Brookes University
Barnett, Adrian A.
Roehampton University
Barnett, Adrian A.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Bicca-Marques, Julio Cesar
Pontificia Universidade Catolica Do Rio Grande Do Sul
Brown, Meredith
University of Calgary
Caillaud, Damien
University of California Davis
Calegaro-Marques, Claudia
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Campbell, Christina J.
California State University Northridge
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Climate Research
Zoology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121105119
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/119721