Abstract
All primates show some dietary flexibility, particularly during food shortages. Foods consumed during times of scarcity (i.e., fallback foods) strongly influence the ecology and evolution of a species. Geladas (Theropithecus gelada) eat primarily graminoid leaves (i.e., grasses and sedges), but also consume other diet items (e.g., underground storage organs), especially in the dry season. We investigated the feeding ecology of wild geladas in the Sankaber region of the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia across 12 mo. We asked how the gelada diet in this region, which is disturbed by livestock and agriculture, correlated with food availability and whether underground foods are fallback foods. We quantified the monthly diets of adults from eight reproductive units using instantaneous scan sampling, and seasonal aboveground and underground food availability using point-intercept transects and soil core sampling. Geladas primarily consumed graminoid leaves year-round (76.3% of the annual diet, 36.2–93.2% of the monthly diet) but spent considerable time consuming underground foods in the dry season (14.0% of the annual diet, 11.1–49.7% of the diet across dry season months). Graminoid consumption increased with graminoid availability, and underground food consumption decreased with graminoid availability. Underground food availability did not vary significantly between the dry and wet season sampling months, supporting the hypothesis that underground foods are fallback foods for geladas. We then compiled data from gelada feeding studies and found that underground foods are an important dry season diet item across study sites, but geladas rely more heavily on underground foods in habitats more heavily influenced by humans. Understanding the range and effects of primate dietary flexibility in human-modified habitats will contribute to a better understanding of how changing environments shape primate ecology and evolution.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and the wardens and staff of the Simien Mountains National Park for permission to conduct this research. We additionally thank all of the participants of the Simien Mountains Gelada Research project across the years for their help in the field, particularly C. Hawley, E. Jejaw, A. Fanta, S. Girmay, and M. Gomery. We thank J. Setchell and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that greatly improved this manuscript. This work was supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society (SSF Gr# 67250), the National Geographic Society (Gr# 8100-06; 8989-11), the Leakey Foundation (multiple grants), the National Science Foundation (Gr# BCS-0715179, IOS-1255974) the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Gr# DGE 1256260), the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (BIO 1308395), and the University of Michigan.
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Jarvey, J.C., Low, B.S., Pappano, D.J. et al. Graminivory and Fallback Foods: Annual Diet Profile of Geladas (Theropithecus gelada) Living in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. Int J Primatol 39, 105–126 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-018-0018-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-018-0018-x