Serckx Adeline, Kühl Hjalmar S, Beudels-Jamar Roseline C, Poncin Pascal, Bastin Jean-François, Huynen Marie-Claude
Primatology Research Group, Behavioural Biology Unit, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.
Conservation Biology Unit, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium.
Am J Primatol. 2015 Sep;77(9):948-962. doi: 10.1002/ajp.22425. Epub 2015 May 13.
Primates along with many other animal taxa are forced to cope with large shifts in basic ecological conditions because of rapid anthropogenically induced changes of their habitats. One of the coping strategies for primates is to adjust their diet to these changes, and several studies have demonstrated the importance of fallback resources for this. Bonobos, like chimpanzees, might be particularly vulnerable to habitat fragmentation because of their high dependence on fruit availability. Little is known, however, about bonobo feeding ecology in fragmented habitats and their use of fallback resources. In this study, we investigate diet seasonal variation and the exploitation of preferred and fallback foods in a bonobo population living in forest-savannah mosaics. Results show that bonobos have adapted to this fragmented habitat by feeding on only a few fruit species, including an important number of non-tree species (liana, herb and savannah shrub), in comparison to populations living in dense forests. These non-tree plants have been defined as fallback and non-preferred foods, which are most probably consumed to maintain high frugivory. Interestingly, we identified that preferred foods are all typical of mature forests while fallback resources are mainly found in forest edges or disturbed areas. This finding indicates that bonobos prefer to use mature forests when feeding, as they do for nesting, but extend their range use to forest areas in close proximity to humans when the availability of preferred fruits is low. Finally, we show that bonobo diet relies heavily on two abundant fallback fruits: Musanga cecropioides and Marantochloa leucantha. Other studies have demonstrated that the selection of abundant fallback resources enables primates to subsist at high densities and to maintain cohesive groups, as observed at this study site. Our findings suggest that bonobos living in forest-savannah mosaics can be considered as staple fallback food consumers. Am. J. Primatol. 77:948-962, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
由于人类活动导致灵长类动物栖息地迅速变化，灵长类动物以及许多其他动物类群被迫应对基本生态条件的巨大转变。灵长类动物的应对策略之一是根据这些变化调整饮食，多项研究已证明了应急资源对此的重要性。倭黑猩猩与黑猩猩一样，由于高度依赖水果供应，可能特别容易受到栖息地破碎化的影响。然而，对于破碎栖息地中倭黑猩猩的觅食生态及其对应急资源的利用知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了生活在森林 - 稀树草原镶嵌区域的倭黑猩猩种群的饮食季节变化以及对偏好食物和应急食物的利用情况。结果表明，与生活在茂密森林中的种群相比，倭黑猩猩通过仅食用少数几种水果来适应这种破碎的栖息地，其中包括大量非树木物种（藤本植物、草本植物和稀树草原灌木）。这些非树木植物被定义为应急食物和非偏好食物，很可能是为了维持高水果摄入量而食用。有趣的是，我们发现偏好食物均为成熟森林的典型特征，而应急资源主要出现在森林边缘或受干扰地区。这一发现表明，倭黑猩猩在觅食时更喜欢利用成熟森林，就像它们筑巢时一样，但在偏好水果供应不足时，它们会将活动范围扩展到靠近人类的森林区域。最后，我们表明倭黑猩猩的饮食严重依赖两种丰富的应急水果：白仙树和白花竹芋。其他研究表明，选择丰富的应急资源能使灵长类动物以高密度生存并维持群体凝聚力，本研究地点的情况就是如此。我们的研究结果表明，生活在森林 - 稀树草原镶嵌区域的倭黑猩猩可被视为主要的应急食物消费者。《美国灵长类学杂志》77:948 - 962，2015年。©2015威利期刊公司
