Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia 25755, USA.
Am J Primatol. 2011 May;73(5):439-48. doi: 10.1002/ajp.20919. Epub 2010 Dec 31.
Non-human primates are coming into increasingly frequent contact with humans and with human-modified environments. The potential for monkeys to survive in such modified landscapes is questionable, and is likely related to a species' behavioral plasticity, particularly as it relates to diet. In this study, I explore the ways in which white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) adjust their diet and foraging behaviors in response to anthropogenic impact. I compare a troop of human-commensal monkeys and a similar troop of wild-feeding monkeys living within the Curú Wildlife Refuge in western Costa Rica for differences in overall diet composition and activity budgets to evaluate the impact of habitat change in this context. The commensal-living white-faced capuchins rely on raided coconut (Cocos nucifera) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) crops and provisioned or stolen human foods for over one-half of their total diet. Regardless of this highly anthropogenic diet, the two study troops do not significantly differ in their activity budgets, and the human-commensal troop maintains wild-foraging activities consistent with those of the wild-feeding troop. These data suggest that the white-faced capuchins at this site are responding to anthropogenic disturbance primarily through the exploitation of human food resources, but they do not yet appear to have lost the foraging skills required to survive in this modified landscape on their own. This study adds to our growing body of knowledge on primate survival in matrix habitats, and will hopefully inform primate management plans throughout the Neotropics.
非人类灵长类动物与人类和人类改造的环境越来越频繁地接触。猴子在这种经过改造的环境中生存的可能性是值得怀疑的，这可能与物种的行为可塑性有关，尤其是与饮食有关。在这项研究中，我探讨了白面卷尾猴（Cebus capucinus）如何根据人为影响调整其饮食和觅食行为。我比较了生活在哥斯达黎加西部的库里野生动物保护区内的一群与人共生的猴子和一群以野生食物为食的类似猴子，以评估这种情况下栖息地变化的影响。与人共生的白面卷尾猴依赖于掠夺椰子（Cocos nucifera）和油棕（Elaeis guineensis）作物，以及提供或偷来的人类食物，占其总饮食的一半以上。尽管有这种高度人为的饮食，两个研究群体在活动预算方面没有显著差异，而且与人共生的群体保持着与野生觅食群体一致的野生觅食活动。这些数据表明，该地点的白面卷尾猴主要通过利用人类食物资源来应对人为干扰，但它们似乎还没有失去在这种经过改造的景观中生存所需的觅食技能。这项研究增加了我们对灵长类动物在基质栖息地中生存的知识体系，希望能为整个新热带地区的灵长类动物管理计划提供信息。
