See How They Grow: Tracking Capuchin Monkey (Cebus capucinus) Populations in a Regenerating Costa Rican Dry Forest
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
1996
Journal Title
Adaptive Radiations of Neotropical Primates
Pages
289–307
Editor
Marilyn A. Norconk, Alfred L. Rosenberger, and Paul A. Garber.
Publisher
Plenum Press
City
New York
Abstract
A major threat to world-wide conservation efforts is the loss and fragmentation of existing wildlife habitats (Boza 1993; Medley 1993; Mittermeier & Cheney 1987; Saunders et al. 1991; Shaffer 1981; Simberloff 1988). The expansion of habitat refuges through land restoration and subsequent forest regeneration is thus a critical tool in tropical conservation biology. The study of population dynamics of long-lived species in regenerating habitats can offer important insight into conservation research and behavioral ecology. Tropical forest primates are important indicator species because they have relatively slow life history patterns, are comparatively rare, and tend to attract public conservation interest. Very little is known about the long-term population dynamics of most primate species. Around the world, most non-human primate populations are in decline, and many are endangered or seriously threatened with extinction (Dobson & Lyles 1989; Dunbar 1987, 1988; Mittermeier & Cheney 1987). However, some populations, such as those of the relatively well-studied baboons, macaques and howling monkeys, show strong demographic fluctuations when studied over long periods of time. This study summarizes ten years of demographic data on the Central American white-faced capuchin monkey, Cebus capucinus, with particular reference to ecological correlates of population growth, sex ratios, births rates, survivorship, and intergroup dispersal, in the early stages of forest regeneration. These data provide a context for our on-going studies of the behavioral ecology of this species (e.g. Boinski 1993; Chapman 1986, 1987, 1988a; Chapman & Fedigan 1990; Fedigan 1990, 1993; Rose 1994a, 1994b; Rose & Fedigan 1995), and also suggest how white-faced capuchins respond to changes in their environment.
Recommended Citation
Fedigan, Linda; Rose, Lisa; and Avila, Rodrigo Morera, "See How They Grow: Tracking Capuchin Monkey (Cebus capucinus) Populations in a Regenerating Costa Rican Dry Forest" (1996). Library Publications. 71.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/lib_pub/71
