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Effects of Ecology on the Gastrointestinal Parasites of Alouatta pigra

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Abstract

We examined the effects of demographic and ecological variables on the prevalence of intestinal parasites in free-ranging black howlers, Alouatta pigra, from Belize and Mexico. We collected 253 fecal samples from 50 individually identified monkeys during 2003. We processed all samples via standard centrifugation concentration techniques with sugar and zinc sulfate as flotation media. We used antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to detect protozoa. We analyzed data for each season separately. The most important factor in predicting whether an Alouatta pigra would be infected with a parasite was its membership in a particular social troop. It was not possible to isolate the effects of human presence, forest fragmentation, primate density, and the absence of Ateles geoffroyi on the prevalence of parasites in Alouatta pigra because the factors covaried. We detected few species of gastrointestinal parasites, possibly due to Alouatta pigra’s arboreal and herbivorous lifestyle and small geographic range. The prevalence of each parasite had a different pattern, with Controrchis sp. (presumed to be C. biliophilus), a fluke, tending to be more prevalent in Alouatta pigra that inhabited disturbed habitats, and Trypanoxyuris minutus, a pinworm, tending to be more prevalent in primates from undisturbed habitats. Giardia sp. tended to be more prevalent in primates at high densities. These results indicated that it is important to examine each parasite’s infection pattern separately to obtain a more accurate representation of the dynamics among the host, parasites, and ecology.

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Acknowledgments

S. K. Vitazkova thanks Dr. Michael Huffman and Dr. Susan Wade for invaluable encouragement and support throughout this research. The authors thank Stephanie Schaaf for performing ELISA testing; Michael Wade, Oswald McFadzean, and Emiliano Pop for field assistance; Jessie Young (Community Baboon Sanctuary, Belize), Diane Wade (Belize Audubon Society), and Hector Mai and Marcello Windsor (Government of Belize) for research permits; A. Estrada for help with access to field sites in Mexico; and Andromeda Rivera for generous assistance with logistics in Mexico. A Choraffas Foundation Award to S. K. Vitazkova made it possible to undertake this research.

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  1. Sylvia K. Vitazkova

    Present address: Division of Science and Mathematics, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, VI, 00802, USA

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  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, 10027, USA

    Sylvia K. Vitazkova

  2. Parasitology Section, New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Susan E. Wade

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Vitazkova, S.K., Wade, S.E. Effects of Ecology on the Gastrointestinal Parasites of Alouatta pigra . Int J Primatol 28, 1327–1343 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-007-9229-2

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