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Spatiotemporal Interactions Among Three Neighboring Groups of Free-Ranging White-Footed Tamarins (Saguinus leucopus) in Colombia

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Abstract

Successful conservation requires an understanding of animal movement patterns and space use. Such data are hard to obtain, however, when difficult terrain, nocturnal habits, or lack of habituation make direct observation impractical. White-footed tamarins (Saguinus leucopus) are small primates endemic to Colombia that are in danger of extinction due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and the illegal pet trade. Here, we report the results of the first study to use radio-tracking to investigate white-footed tamarin ranging behavior. We recorded the movements of three neighboring tamarin groups simultaneously for 3 month using radio-telemetry. Home range sizes (estimated using both minimum convex polygon and fixed kernel contour methods) were substantially larger than reported in previous studies that did not use remote-tracking. Monte Carlo resampling procedures revealed that home range size differed significantly among the three groups but that the mean daily path length did not. As in other tamarin species, the degree of range overlap between neighboring social groups was high, ranging from 27 to 81%. Using a randomization test, we showed that the observed mean distance between groups was significantly lower than expected by chance for two of the three group dyads. This pattern of intergroup “attraction,” in conjunction with substantial range overlap and high population density, implies that the Bellavista Forest, one of the few remaining habitats of Saguinus leucopus, may be saturated, and promoting habitat restoration should be a priority for the conservation of this species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the regional environmental government authority CORPOCALDAS (Corporacion Autónoma Regional de Caldas) for permission to conduct this research and for financial support. We also thank Luis Soto (Proyecto Titi Foundation) for training in the capture and radio collaring of tamarins, and Asociación de Veterinarios de Vida Silvestre and the staff from Centro de Rehabilitacion de Fauna Silvestre del Oriente de Caldas (CRFSOC) for technical support. We thank Andrés, Efraín, Amilvia, Jose, Willy, and the family Carvajal Betancur for their support during the field work. We thank Oscar Ospina, Nestor Roncancio, Adriana Bilgray, and Oris Acevedo for logistical support; Vanessa Perez, Jesualdo Fuentes, and Egbert Leigh for helpful suggestions; and Ryan Chisolm for statistical advice. We also thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments have improved this manuscript. Funding for this project was provided by the Margot Marsh Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Fundación Biodiversa Colombia, Colciencias (Programa Jóvenes Investigadores e Innovadores “Virginia Gutierrez de Pineda”), Grupo en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. D. Caillaud was supported by NSF grant DEB-0749097 to L. A. Meyers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales y Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 11001000, Colombia

    Lilian Alba-Mejia, Olga L. Montenegro & Pedro Sánchez-Palomino

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancón, Panamá, Republic of Panamá

    Lilian Alba-Mejia & Margaret C. Crofoot

  3. Section of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA

    Damien Caillaud

  4. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Atlanta, Georgia, 30315, USA

    Damien Caillaud

  5. Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany

    Margaret C. Crofoot

  6. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

    Margaret C. Crofoot

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  1. Lilian Alba-Mejia
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  2. Damien Caillaud
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  3. Olga L. Montenegro
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  4. Pedro Sánchez-Palomino
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  5. Margaret C. Crofoot
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Correspondence to Margaret C. Crofoot.

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Alba-Mejia, L., Caillaud, D., Montenegro, O.L. et al. Spatiotemporal Interactions Among Three Neighboring Groups of Free-Ranging White-Footed Tamarins (Saguinus leucopus) in Colombia. Int J Primatol 34, 1281–1297 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-013-9740-6

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