Ganzhorn Jörg U
Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
Oecologia. 2002 May;131(3):427-435. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-0891-y. Epub 2002 May 1.
The goal of this study was to assess the relative importance of food availability and its quality for the spatial distribution of a folivorous lemur species, Lepilemur ruficaudatus, from the highly seasonal dry deciduous forest of Madagascar. Males and females of this species showed opposite changes of body mass and body condition during the dry and the wet season. Male body mass declined during the dry season that coincides with mating, while female body mass remained constant. During the wet season that coincides with lactation, female body mass declined but male body mass increased. This indicates that changes in body mass are not linked as much to environmental seasonality as to mating and reproduction. The distribution of L. ruficaudatus was most significantly related to the spatial distribution of leaf protein during the wet season. Neither the availability nor the chemical composition of leaves eaten during the dry season affected the spatial distribution of L. ruficaudatus. These findings are consistent with hypotheses that constraints are most severe during the times of lactation and weaning and that distributions of primates reflect their food requirements in order to optimize their reproductive success. They are inconsistent with the idea that the lean dry season is the most stressful time of year for lemurs in energetic or nutritive terms.
本研究的目的是评估食物可获得性及其质量对马达加斯加高度季节性干燥落叶林中一种食叶狐猴物种——红尾竹狐猴（Lepilemur ruficaudatus）空间分布的相对重要性。该物种的雄性和雌性在旱季和雨季期间体重和身体状况呈现相反的变化。雄性体重在与交配期重合的旱季下降，而雌性体重保持不变。在与哺乳期重合的雨季，雌性体重下降但雄性体重增加。这表明体重变化与环境季节性的关联程度不如与交配和繁殖的关联程度大。红尾竹狐猴的分布在雨季与叶片蛋白质的空间分布最为显著相关。旱季所食用叶片的可获得性和化学成分均未影响红尾竹狐猴的空间分布。这些发现与以下假设一致，即哺乳期和断奶期的限制最为严格，灵长类动物的分布反映了它们的食物需求，以便优化繁殖成功率。它们与以下观点不一致，即从能量或营养角度来看，食物匮乏的旱季是狐猴一年中压力最大的时期。
