Project: Sleeping site selection by black lion tamarins: a comparison between continuous forest and fragment

 

Abstract: Sleeping sites are important resources for Callitrichidae that need to select particularly safe places because they are "torpid" or "difficult to arouse" at night, reducing their ability to escape from a predator. In addition, other factors are recognized as important in primate selection of sleeping sites, such as thermoregulation requirements, the proximity of food resources and the need to defend the territory. In the present work, we proposed 1) to determine and compare the physical characteristics, places and use of the sleeping sites and 2) to test the main hypotheses related to sleeping site selection of two groups of black lion tamarins, Leontopithecus chrysopygus, one located in a continuous forest (Morro do Diabo State Park) and another in an altered fragment (Santa Maria - Pontal do Paranapanema). The sleeping sites will be located via the daily monitoring of both groups equipped with VHF collars. The physical characteristics of the sleeping sites will be compared to the available resources found in 25 x 20m-plots randomly scattered within the territory, through the use of resource selection functions. The use of sleeping sites by black lion tamarins as well as their location within the living area and in relation to the resources will be determined through the daily monitoring of the groups and the collection of behavioral and ecological data with the scan sampling method every 5 min. We will use Wilcoxon tests for paired samples to determine whether black lion tamarins behave like "Multiple Central Place Forager" or "Central Place Forager." Finally, this project will enable to highlight if there are different strategies of sleeping site selection according to the habitat.

 

Contact: leonardohdsl@hotmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

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