Estrada Alejandro, Coates-Estrada Rosamond
Estacion de Biologia Los Tuxtlas, Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Am J Primatol. 1986;10(1):51-66. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350100106.
Use of leaf resources by a troop of howling monkeys and two colonies of leaf cutting ants was studied for an annual cycle in the rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Howling monkeys spent half their annual foraging time feeding on leaves; leaf-cutting ants spent at least 80% of their recorded foraging time harvesting leaves. Both herbivores preferred young leaves over nature ones, and chemical analysis showed that the protein: fibre ratio of the leaves used was correlated with these preferences. Howling monkeys used 34 tree species as leaf sources. Leaf-cutting ants used 40 plant species of which 38 were trees. Eighteen species used by Alouatta were also used by Atta; species of Moraceae and Lauraceae were among the most important in their foraging preferences. The plant species used by monkeys and ants occurred at low densities (⩽ 4.0 ind/ha). The seasonal production of leaves, the high density of leaf-cutting ant colonies at the study site, and the high amounts of young foliage harvested by the ants from tree species, and individual trees used by howling monkeys as sources of young leaves suggest that the foraging activities of Atta may represent a significant pressure upon leaf resources available to Alouatta.
在墨西哥洛斯图斯特拉斯雨林中，对一群吼猴和两群切叶蚁利用树叶资源的情况进行了为期一年的研究。吼猴一年中一半的觅食时间用于以树叶为食；切叶蚁记录的觅食时间中至少80%用于采集树叶。两种食草动物都更喜欢嫩叶而非老叶，化学分析表明，所利用树叶的蛋白质与纤维比例与这些偏好相关。吼猴利用34种树木作为树叶来源。切叶蚁利用40种植物，其中38种是树木。吼猴使用的18种植物也是切叶蚁使用的；桑科和樟科植物是它们觅食偏好中最重要的植物种类。猴子和蚂蚁所利用的植物种类密度较低（≤4.0株/公顷）。树叶的季节性产量、研究地点切叶蚁群落的高密度，以及蚂蚁从吼猴用作嫩叶来源的树种和单棵树上收获的大量嫩枝叶表明，切叶蚁的觅食活动可能对吼猴可利用的树叶资源构成重大压力。
