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Towards an ecological solution to the folivore paradox: patch depletion as an indicator of within-group scramble competition in red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles)

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Abstract

A number of socioecological models assume that within-group food competition is either weak or absent among folivorous primates. This assumption is made because their food resources are presumed to be superabundant and evenly dispersed. However, recent evidence increasingly suggests that folivore group size is food-limited, that the primates prefer patchily distributed high-quality foods, and display some of the expected responses to within-group scramble competition. To investigate this apparent contradiction between theoretical models and recent empirical data, we examined the foraging behaviour of red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We found that red colobus monkeys foraged in a manner that suggests they deplete patches of preferred foods: intake rate slowed significantly during patch occupancy while movement rate, an index of foraging effort, increased. Furthermore, patch occupancy was related to the size of the feeding group and the size of the patch. These results suggest that within-group scramble competition occurs, may limit folivore group size, and should be considered in models of folivore behavioural ecology.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Science Foundation (grant number SBR-9617664, SBR-990899, SBR-0342582), the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Harvard University Anthropology Department. Lauren Chapman, Lynne Isbell, Cheryl Knott, Andrew Marshall, Matthew McIntyre, Richard Wrangham, and anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on the manuscript. Permission to conduct this research was given by the National Council for Science and Technology, and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. All research reported in this paper complies with the laws of the country in which it was conducted

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, 5th Floor Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02138, USA

    Tamaini V. Snaith

  2. Anthropology Department and McGill School of Environment, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Canada, H3A 2T7

    Colin A. Chapman

  3. Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, 10460, USA

    Colin A. Chapman

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  1. Tamaini V. Snaith
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  2. Colin A. Chapman
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Correspondence to Tamaini V. Snaith.

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Communicated by D. Watts

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Snaith, T.V., Chapman, C.A. Towards an ecological solution to the folivore paradox: patch depletion as an indicator of within-group scramble competition in red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59, 185–190 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0023-x

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