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Fission-fusion dynamics as a temporally and spatially flexible behavioral strategy in spider monkeys

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Abstract

Fission-fusion dynamics (FFD) encompass a behavioral strategy present in many animal species that reduces the costs and increases the benefits of group living. In this case study, we investigated how group characteristics (size and composition) and fission rates in spider monkeys varied in space and time with rainfall, fruit availability, and fruit variability in two sites, each presenting different characteristics regarding the distribution and size of food patches and rainfall. Habitat characteristics strongly influenced FFD in spider monkeys, particularly subgroup size and fission rate. Subgroup size varied with fruit availability and its variability, while fission rates varied with rainfall and fruit variability. However, both subgroup size and fission rate varied in opposite ways, depending upon habitat type. Subgroups tended to present stable mixed-sex composition regardless of fruit availability. We conclude that for spider monkeys, FFD are part of a flexible behavioral strategy to cope with a locally fluctuating environment and with different environments within the geographic range of the species.

Significance statement

Fission-fusion dynamics (FFD) constitute a form of social organization that allows some species to take advantage of living in groups under different environmental conditions. The relationship between social organization and environmental variables has been well studied, but inconsistencies remain. One potential reason for these inconsistencies may be the focus of most studies on a single habitat type, with few formal comparisons of FFD in the various habitats occupied by a species. We evaluated how habitat characteristics (e.g., food availability and rainfall) affect FFD (assessed through subgroup size, subgroup composition, and fission rate) in spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in two different habitat types. We found that within a single habitat type, food availability, variability, and rainfall affected subgroup size and fission rate. Crucially, these relationships contrasted sharply, depending on habitat type. Our study shows that FFD are flexible within and across habitats, indicating the importance of considering habitat characteristics when conducting socio-ecological observations. We caution against generalizations based upon single-habitat studies.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our assistants who helped collecting the data: Augusto Canul, Eulogio Canul, Juan Canul, and Macedonio Canul in OMYK; Rafael Lombera, Isidro Lopez Lira, and Violeta González Alcaraz in MABR; and the many students who assisted them. We are grateful to Braulio Pinacho-Guendulain and Audrey Bourret for advice with data analyses, and particularly Audrey Bourret for her help with some graphs. We are also grateful to Filippo Aureli, Colleen Schaffner, and Laura Vick for sharing the management of the long-term project in this site. We are also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments, and to Dr. Bernard Voelkl for his constructive criticism that greatly improved the manuscript. Moreover, we are thankful to William F.J. Parsons for the English revision.

Funding

ARAM benefited from a doctoral fellowship awarded by the Quebec Research Fund for Nature and Technology (FRQNT), partially from a scholarship of the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), and an excellence award from QCBS (Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science). The study was funded through a MITACS Globalink Research Award to ARAM, SC, and GRF. For the project in OMYK, we thank the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, UNAM, National Geographic, and CONACYT (grant 157656).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    Adriana R. Aguilar-Melo & Sophie Calmé

  2. Departamento de conservación de la biodiversida, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico

    Sophie Calmé

  3. Conservación Biológica y Desarrollo Social A.C., Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Sandra E. Smith-Aguilar

  4. Unidad Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

  5. Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez

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  1. Adriana R. Aguilar-Melo
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  2. Sophie Calmé
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  3. Sandra E. Smith-Aguilar
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  4. Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez
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Correspondence to Adriana R. Aguilar-Melo.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Our study was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico (SERMARNAT) under Research Permits DGVS1752/09, DGVS009/13, and DGVS02716/14, and the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care in Science under permit SC-2014 of the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee of the Université de Sherbrooke. None of the authors had physical contact with the primates in the study. This study also adhered to the Principles for the Ethical Treatment of Primates of the American Society of Primatologists.

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Communicated by B. Voelkl

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Aguilar-Melo, A.R., Calmé, S., Smith-Aguilar, S.E. et al. Fission-fusion dynamics as a temporally and spatially flexible behavioral strategy in spider monkeys. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 72, 150 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2562-y

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