Ordóñez-Gómez José D, Cristóbal-Azkarate Jurgi, Arroyo-Rodríguez Víctor, Santillán-Doherty Ana M, Valdez Ricardo A, Romano Marta C
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
Division of Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2016 Feb 22;11(2):e0149671. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149671. eCollection 2016.
The rapid loss, fragmentation and degradation of tropical forests threaten the survival of many animal species. However, the way in which these phenomena affect animal health has been poorly explored, thus limiting the design of appropriate conservation strategies. To address this, here we identified using linear mixed models the effect of proximal (diet, activity pattern, hunting and logging) and distal (sum of the basal areas of fruiting-tree species [SBAFS], landscape forest cover and degree of forest fragmentation) variables over fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels-hormones associated with animal health and fitness-of six groups of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) inhabiting six landscapes with different spatial structures in Mexico. Proximal variables showed a stronger predictive power over fGCMs than distal. In this sense, increases in travel time, the occurrence of hunting, and reductions in rest time and fruit consumption resulted in higher fGCM levels. Regarding distal variables, increases in SBAFS were negatively related to fGCM levels, thus suggesting that food scarcity increases stress hormone levels. Nevertheless, contrary to theoretical expectations, spider monkeys living in smaller tracts of forest spent less time travelling, but the same time feeding on fruit as those in more forested areas. The lower net energy return associated with this combination of factors would explain why, contrary to theoretical expectations, increased forest cover was associated with increased levels of fGCMs in these groups. Our study shows that, at least in the short term, spider monkeys in fragmented landscapes do not always present higher levels of stress hormones compared to those inhabiting continuous forest, and the importance of preserving fruit sources and controlling hunting for reducing the levels of stress hormones in free ranging spider monkeys.
热带森林的迅速丧失、碎片化和退化威胁着许多动物物种的生存。然而，这些现象对动物健康的影响方式却鲜有研究，从而限制了适当保护策略的制定。为了解决这一问题，我们在这里使用线性混合模型确定了近端变量（饮食、活动模式、狩猎和伐木）和远端变量（结果树种基部面积总和[SBAFS]、景观森林覆盖率和森林碎片化程度）对六组蜘蛛猴（黑掌蜘蛛猴）粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（fGCM）水平的影响，fGCM是与动物健康和适应性相关的激素，这些蜘蛛猴栖息在墨西哥具有不同空间结构的六个景观中。近端变量对fGCM的预测能力比远端变量更强。从这个意义上说，旅行时间的增加、狩猎活动的发生以及休息时间和水果摄入量的减少都会导致fGCM水平升高。关于远端变量，SBAFS的增加与fGCM水平呈负相关，这表明食物短缺会增加应激激素水平。然而，与理论预期相反，生活在较小森林区域的蜘蛛猴旅行时间较少，但与生活在森林较多地区的蜘蛛猴吃水果的时间相同。与这些因素组合相关的较低净能量回报可以解释为什么与理论预期相反，森林覆盖率的增加与这些群体中fGCM水平的升高有关。我们的研究表明，至少在短期内，与生活在连续森林中的蜘蛛猴相比，生活在碎片化景观中的蜘蛛猴应激激素水平并不总是更高，以及保护水果来源和控制狩猎对于降低野生蜘蛛猴应激激素水平的重要性。
