Behavioural and feeding ecology of a small-bodied folivorous primate (Lepilemur leucopus) in Southern Madagascar
Final Report Abstract
Small-bodied folivorous primates are rare because processing leaves often requires extensive gut adaptations and lengthy retention times for fiber fermentation. However, nocturnal Lepilemur leucopus (white-footed sportive lemur) persists on a highly folivorous diet despite small body size (<1kg). The project aimed at investigating how food competition, seasonal variation in the quantity and quality of food resources and sex-specific reproductive costs influence foraging strategies, food choices and the social system of a small-bodied solitarily foraging folivorous primate. We collected data on activity patterns, feeding behavior, social interactions and ranging behavior in a spiny forest population at Berenty Nature Reserve in the highly seasonal and semi-arid domain of southern Madagascar over a complete annual cycle (November 2011 to October 2012) resulting in >1000 hours of radio-telemetry and behavioral observations to investigate the impact of seasonally varying ecological conditions on behavior, food choice and nutrient intake. In addition, we determined habitat structure and phenology of the spiny forest to quantify seasonal changes in food availability. We recorded feeding events collected food samples for chemical analyses of their nutritional content to determine food quality and nutrient intake. Although some folivorous primate species experience behavioral and physiological effects of food limitation, there was no consistent evidence that the seasonal decrease in food quantity had a major impact on feeding behavior, activity patterns or social interactions in L. leucopus, presumably due to its low dietary selectivity and reliance on the most common food species. Hence, any feeding stress may have been more related to food quality than quantity. While L. leucopus balanced its nutrient intake, dietary protein may have been in limited supply as L. leucopus prioritized protein over non-protein intake across seasons and reproductive stages. The findings support the idea that quantitative food shortage during the dry season may be subordinate to leaf quality as a selection pressure on folivorous primate populations. In addition, changes in activity patterns and social interactions were unrelated to food quantity, indicating that L. leucopus forages solitarily even though its diet does not place constraints on group foraging. Hence, top-down processes (i.e. predation pressure) may be more important than bottom-up processes (i.e. abundance of food resources) in shaping its social system.
Publications
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(2013) Defining the low end of primate social complexity: the social organization of the nocturnal white-footed sportive lemur (Lepilemur leucopus). International Journal of Primatology 34:1225-1243
Dröscher I, Kappeler PM
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(2014) Competition for food in a solitarily foraging folivorous primate (Lepilemur leucopus)? American Journal of Primatology 76:842-854
Dröscher I, Kappeler PM
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(2014). Behavioral and feeding ecology of a small-bodied folivorous primate (Lepilemur leucopus). PhD thesis, University of Göttingen
Dröscher I
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(2014). Maintenance of familiarity and social bonding via communal latrine use in a solitary primate (Lepilemur leucopus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 68:2043- 2058
Dröscher I, Kappeler PM
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Nutritional consequences of folivory in a small‐bodied lemur (Lepilemur leucopus): Effects of season and reproduction on nutrient balancing. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 160,2, June 2016, Pages 197-207
Dröscher I, Rothman JM, Ganzhorn JU, Kappeler PM
