Abstract
Species that exploit a wide range of resources or habitats (generalists) tend to be widely distributed, whereas species that exploit a narrow range of resources or habitats (specialists) often have a limited distribution. The distribution patterns are thought to result from specialists using relatively smaller habitats than those exploited by generalists. I used data from 1,725 km of primate surveys that I conducted in Guyana to test these hypotheses. Habitat breadth is the total number of different habitat types occupied by each species. I used the total number of different food categories exploited by each species to measure dietary breadth. Geographic range size is correlated with habitat breadth but not with dietary breadth or body size for the 8 primate species in Guyana. Habitat generalists—red howlers and wedge-capped capuchins—range into all habitats. Habitat specialists—spider monkeys, brown bearded sakis, and golden-handed tamarins—range only into large habitats. Habitat generalists tend to be dietary type specialists in Guyana. I suggest that only habitat generalists can subsist on the low-quality foods in small habitats in Guyana. Conversely, habitat specialists tend to be dietary type generalists in Guyana. They must feed on a variety of food types in large habitats. However, using the number of food categories exploited as a measure of dietary breadth may be only a weak aspect of multidimensional niche. Researchers testing biogeographic hypotheses associated with dietary breadth should consider including multivariate indicators of both the types of food categories eaten and the number of plant species exploited.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Anderson, D. R., Laake, J. L., Crain, B. R., and Burnham, K. P. (1979). Guidelines for line transect sampling of biological populations. J.Wild Manage. 43: 70–78.
Arita, H. T., Robinson, J. G., and Redford, K. H. (1990). Rarity in Neotropical forest mammals and its ecological correlates. Cons.Biol. 4: 181–192.
Barnett, A., Shapely, B., Lehman, S. M., Mayor, M., Henry, E., Benjamin, P., McGarrill, M., and Nagala, R. (2000). Primate records from the Potaro Plateau, western Guyana. Neotrop.Prim. 8: 35–40.
Braza, F., Alvarez, F., and Azcarate, T. (1981). Behavior of the red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) in the llanos of Venezuela. Primates 22: 459–473.
Brown, J. H. (1984). On the relationship between abundance and distribution of species. Am. Nat. 124: 253–279.
Brown, J. H. (1995). Macroecology, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Buckland, S. T., Burnham, K. P., and erson, D. R., and Laake, J. L. (1993). Density Estimation Using Distance Sampling, Chapman Hall, London, England.
Calder, W. (1984). Size, Function, and Life History, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Comiskey, J., Dallmeier, F., Aymard, G., and Hanson, A. (1993). Biodiversity Survey of Kwak-wani, Guyana, The Smithsonian Institution/Man and the Biosphere Biological Diversity Program, Washington, DC.
Cox, C. B., and Moore, P. D. (1993). Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach, Blackwell Scientific, Boston.
de Granville, J.-J. (1988). Phytogeographical characteristics of the Guianan forests. Taxon 37: 578–594.
Dobson, F. S., and Yu, J. (1993). Rarity in neotropical forest mammals revisited. Cons.Biol. 7: 586–591.
Eeley, H. A. C., and Foley, R. A. (1999). Species richness, species range size and ecological specialisation among African primates: Geographical patterns and conservation implica-tions. Biod.Cons. 8: 1033–1056.
Eisenberg, J. F. (1989). Mammals of the Neotropics:Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ek, R. C. (1997). Botanical Diversity in the Tropical Rain Forest of Guyana, Tropenbos-Guyana Programme, Georgetown, Guyana.
Fleagle, J. G., and Reed, K. E. (1996). Comparing primate communities: A multivariate approach. J.Hum.Evol. 30: 489–510.
Gibbs, A. K., and Barron, C. N. (1993). The Geology of the Guiana Shield, Oxford University Press, New York.
Gittlemann, J. L., and Purvis, A. (1998). Body size and species-richness in carnivores and primates. Proc.R.Soc.Lond.Ser.B 265: 113–119.
Hanski, I. (1982). Dynamics of regional distribution: The core and satellite species hypothesis. Oikos 38: 210–221.
Hanski, I., and Gyllenberg, M. (1997). Uniting two general patterns in the distribution of species. Science 275: 397–400.
Harcourt, A. H., Coppeto, S. A., and Parks, S. A. (2002). Rarity, specialization and extinction in primates. J.Biogeog. 29: 445–456.
Harvey, P. H., and Pagel, M. D. (1991). The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology, Oxford University Press, London.
Hubbell, S. P. (2001). The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Huber, O., Funk, V., and Gharbarran, G. (1995). Vegetation Map of Guyana, Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity, Georgetown.
Huston, M. A. (1996). Biological Diversity: The Coexistence of Species on Changing Landscapes, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hutchinson, G. E. (1957). Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harb.Symp.Quat.Biol. 22: 415–427.
Jones, C. B. (1997). Rarity in Primates: Implications for Conservation. Mastozoolog´ýa Neotrop. 4: 35–47.
Julliot, C., and Sabatier, D. (1993). Diet of the red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus)in French Guiana. Int.J.Primatol. 14: 527–550.
Julliot, C., and Simmen, B. (1998). Food partitioning among a community of neotropical pri-mates. Folia Primatol. 69: 43–44.
Kathiresan, K., and Ravikumar, S. (1995). Influence of tannins, sugars and amino acids on bacterial load of marine halophytes. Environ.Ecol. 13: 94–96.
Kessler, P. (1995). Preliminary field study of the red-handed tamarin, Saguinus midas,in French Guiana. Neotrop.Prim. 3: 20–22.
Kinzey, W. G., and Norconk, M. A. (1993). Physical and chemical properties of fruit and seeds eaten by Pithecia and Chiropotes in Surinam and Venezuela. Int.J.Primatol. 14: 207–227.
Krebs, C. J. (1989). Ecological Methodology, Harper Collins, New York.
Laws, M. J., and Eeley, H. A. C. (2000). Are local patterns of anthropoid primate diversity related to patterns of diversity at larger scale? J.Biogeog. 27: 1421–1435.
Lehman, S. M. (1999). Biogeography of the Primates of Guyana, Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.
Lehman, S. M. (2000). Primate community structure in Guyana: A biogeographic analysis. Int. J.Primatol. 21: 333-351.
Lehman, S. M. (2004). Distribution and diversity of primates in Guyana: Species-area relation-ships and riverine barriers. Int.J.Primatol. 25: 73–95.
Lehman, S. M., Sussman, R. W., Phillips-Conroy, J., and Prince, W. (in press). Ecological bio-geography of primates in Guyana: The effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. In Lehman, S. M., and Fleagle, J. G. (eds.), Primate Biogeography, Plenum/Kluwer Press, New York.
Miller, L. E. (1997). The behavioral ecology of wedge-capped capuchin monkeys (Cebus oli-vaceus). In Norconk, M. A., Rosenberger, A. L., and Garber, P. A. (eds.), Adaptive Radiations of Neotropical Primates, Plenum, New York, pp. 271–288.
Mittermeier, R. A., and van Roosmalen, M. G. M. (1981). Preliminary observations on habitat utilization and diet in eight Suriname monkeys. Folia Primatol. 36: 1–39.
Muckenhirn, N. A., Mortenson, B. K., Vessey, S., Fraser, C. E. O., and Singh, B. (1975). Report of a Primate Survey in Guyana, Pan American Health Organization.
Myers, A. A., and Giller, P. S. (eds). (1988). Analytical Biogeography: An Integrated Approach to the Study of Animal and Plant Distribution, Chapman and Hall, London.
Norconk, M. A. (1997). Seasonal variations in the diets of white-faced and bearded sakis (Pithecia pithecia and Chiropotes satanas). in Guri Lake, Venezuela. In Norconk, M. A., Rosenberger, A. L., and Garber, P. A. (eds.), Adaptive Radiations of Neotropical Primates, Plenum, New York, pp. 403–426.
Norconk, M. A., Grafton, B. W., and Conklin-Brittain, N. L. (1998). Seed dispersal by neotrop-ical seed predators. Am.J.Primatol. 45: 103–126.
Packa, K. S., Henry, O., and Sabatier, D. (1999). The insectivorous–frugivorous diet of the golden-handed tamarin (Saguinus midas midas). in French Guiana. Folia Primatol. 70: 1–7.
Parker, T. A. I., Foster, R. B., Emmons, L., Freed, P., Forsyth, A., Hoffman, B., and Gill, B. D. (1993). A Biological Assessment of the Kanuku Mountain Region of Southwestern Guyana, Conservation International, Washington, DC.
Peetz, A. (2001). Ecology and social organization of the bearded saki Chiropotes satanas chiropotes (Primates: Pitheciinae) in Venezuela. Ecotrop.Monogr. 1: 1–170.
Peres, C. A. (1997). Primate community structure at twenty western Amazonian flooded and unflooded forests. J.Trop.Ecol. 13: 381–405.
Peres, C. A. (1999). General guidelines for standardizing line-transect surveys of tropical forest primates. Neotrop.Prim. 7: 11–16.
Peres, C. A., and Janson, C. H. (1999). Species coexistence, distribution, and environmental determinants of neotropical primate richness: A community-level zoogeographic analysis. In Fleagle, J. G., Janson, C. H., and Reed, K. (eds.), Primate Communities, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 55–74.
Pontes, A. R. M. (1997). Habitat partitioning among primates in Maracá Island, Roraima, northern Brazilian Amazonia. Int.J.Primatol. 18: 131–157.
Rosenzweig M. L. 1995. Species diversity in space and time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rowe, N. (1996). The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates, Pogonias Press, East Hampton.
Schmidt-Nielsen, K. (1997). Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Schoener, T. W. (1988). Ecological interactions. In Myers, A. A., and Giller, P. S. (eds.), Analytical Biogeography:An Integrated Approach to the Study of Animal and Plant Distribution, Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 255–295.
Simmen, B., and Sabatier, D. (1996). Diets of some French Guianan primates: Food composition and food choices. Int.J.Primatol. 17: 661–693.
Simmon, B., and Sabatier, D. (1996). Diets of some French Guianan primates: Food consumption and food choices. Int.J.Primatol. 17: 661–694.
Smith, R. J., and Jungers, W. L. (1997). Body mass in comparative primatology. J.Hum.Evol. 32: 523–559.
Sussman, R. W., and Phillips-Conroy, J. (1995). A survey of the distribution and diversity of the primates of Guyana. Int.J.Primatol. 16: 761–792.
ter Steege, H. (1993). Patterns in Tropical Rain Forest in Guyana, Stichting Tropenbos, Wageningen.
Terborgh, J. (1983). Five New World Primates: A Study in Comparative Ecology, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Terborgh, J., and Andresen, E. (1998). The composition of Amazonian forests: Patterns at local and regional scales. J.Trop.Ecol. 14: 645–664.
Teunissen, P. A. (1993). Vegetation types and vegetation succession of the freshwater wetlands. In Ouboter, P. E. (ed.), The Freshwater Ecosystems of Suriname, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 116–145.
van Roosmalen, M. G. M. (1985a). Fruits of the Guianan Flora, Utrecht University, Utrecht.
van Roosmalen, M. G. M. (1985b). Habitat preferences, diet, feeding strategy and social orga-nization of the black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus paniscus Linnaeus 1758). in Surinam. Acta Amazonica 15: 1–238.
van Roosmalen, M. G. M. (1987). Diet, feeding behavior and social organization of the Guianan black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus paniscus). Int.J.Primatol. 8: 421.
Vazquez, D. P., and Simberloff, D. (2002). Ecological specialization and susceptibility to dis-turbance: Conjectures and refutations. Am.Nat. 159: 606–623.
Wright, P. C., and Jernvall, J. (1999). The future of primate communities: A reflection of the present? In Fleagle, J. G., Janson, C. H., and Reed, K. (eds.), Primate Communities, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 295–309.
Youlatos, D. (1998). Positional behavior of two sympatric Guianan capuchin monkeys, the brown capuchin (Cebus apella) and the wedge-capped capuchin (Cebus olivaceus). Mammalia 62: 351–365.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lehman, S.M. Biogeography of the Primates of Guyana: Effects of Habitat Use and Diet on Geographic Distribution. International Journal of Primatology 25, 1225–1242 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJOP.0000043960.87828.19
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJOP.0000043960.87828.19