Skip to main content
Log in

What limits primates?

  • Published:
Primates Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recently ecological data on spider and howler monkeys at Tikal, Guatemala, have been used in an attempt to demonstrate that primate populations are not limited by food resources. Those data are shown here to be inadequate for testing hypotheses about population limitation, and the problem of discerning limiting factors is explored.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altmann, J., S. A. Altmann, G. Hausfater, &S. A. McCluskey, 1977. Life history of yellow baboons: physical development, reproductive parameters, and infant mortality.Primates, 18: 315–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrewartha, H. G. &L. C. Birch, 1954.The Distribution and Abundance of Animals. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bramblett, C. A., 1976.Patterns of Primate Behavior. Mayfield, Palo Alto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cant, J. G. H., 1977a. Ecology, locomotion, and social organization of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of California, Davis.

    Google Scholar 

  • ----, 1977b. Ecology of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) at Tikal, Guatemala.Paper presented at Ann. Meet. Amer. Anthropol. Ass., Houston.

  • ----, 1978a. Reproductive strategies of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi).Paper presented at 47th Ann. Meet. Amer. Ass. Phys. Anthropol., Toronto.

  • ————, 1978b. Population survey of the spider monkeyAteles geoffroyi at Tikal, Guatemala.Primates, 19: 525–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charles-Dominique, P. &C. M. Hladik, 1971. LeLepilemur de Sud du Madagascar: écologie, alimentation et vie sociale.Terre et Vie, 25: 3–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., 1977. Methodology and measurement. In:Primate Ecology: Studies of Feeding and Ranging Behaviour in Lemurs, Monkeys and Apes,T. H. Clutton-Brock (ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 585–590.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody, M. L., 1974.Competition and the Structure of Bird Communities. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coelho, A. M., C. A. Bramblett, &L. B. Quick, 1977. Social organization and food resource availability in primates: a socio-bioenergetic analysis of diet and disease hypotheses.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 46: 253–264.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • ————, ————, ————, 1976. Resource availability and population density in primates: Socio-bioenergetic analysis of energy budgets of Guatemalan howler and spider monkeys.Primates, 17: 63–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————, 1977. Ecology, population characteristics, and sympatric association in primates: a socio-bioenergetic analysis of howler and spider monkeys in Tikal, Guatemala.Yrbk. Phys. Anthropol., 20: 96–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dittus, W. P. J., 1977. The social regulation of population density and age-sex distribution in the toque monkey.Behaviour, 63: 281–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, R. B., 1974. Seasonality of fruit production and seed fall in a tropical forest ecosystem in Panama. Ph.D. Thesis, Duke Univ., Durham, North Carolina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frisch, R. E. &J. W. McArthur, 1974. Menstrual cycles: fatness as a determinant of minimum weight for height necessary for their maintenance or onset.Science, 185: 949–951.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glander, K. E., 1975. Habitat description and resource utilization: a preliminary report on mantled howling monkey ecology. In:Socioecology and Psychology of Primates,R. H. Tuttle (ed.), Mouton, The Hague, pp. 37–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, L. L. &D. J. Klein, 1975. Social and ecological contrasts between four taxa of neotropical primates. In:Socioecology and Psychology of Primates,R. H. Tuttle (ed.), Mouton, The Hague, pp. 59–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lack, D., 1954.The Natural Regulation of Animal Numbers. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier, R. A., 1977. Distribution, synecology and conservation of Surinam monkeys. Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puleston, D. E. 1968.Brosimum alicastrum as a subsistence alternative for the classic Maya of the central southern lowlands. M.A. Thesis, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————, 1973. Ancient Maya settlement patterns and environment at Tikal: Implications for subsistence models. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T. W., 1974. Resource partitioning in ecological communities.Science, 185: 27–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Struhsaker, T. T., 1973. A recensus of vervet monkeys in the Masai-Amboseli Game Reserve, Kenya.Ecology, 54: 930–932.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————, 1976. A further decline in numbers of Amboseli vervet monkeys.Biotropica, 8: 211–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiens, J. A., 1977. On competition and variable environments.Am. Sci., 65: 590–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrangham, R. W., 1977. Feeding behaviour of chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. In:Primate Ecology: Studies of Feeding and Ranging Behaviour in Lemurs, Monkeys and Apes,T. H. Clutton-Brock (ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp. 504–538.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

About this article

Cite this article

Cant, J.G.H. What limits primates?. Primates 21, 538–544 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02373842

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02373842

Keywords

Navigation