Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Robert D. Martin
- Introduction
- 1 An ethnoprimatological approach to interactions between human and non-human primates
- 2 Habituating primates: processes, techniques, variables and ethics
- 3 Habitat description and phenology
- 4 Geographical information systems and remote sensing
- 5 Monitoring local weather and climate
- 6 Survey and census methods: population distribution and density
- 7 Trapping primates
- 8 Handling, anaesthesia, health evaluation and biological sampling
- 9 Morphology, morphometrics and taxonomy
- 10 Marking and radio-tracking primates
- 11 Field experiments with non-human primates: a tutorial
- 12 Feeding ecology, frugivory and seed dispersal
- 13 Dietary analysis I: food physics
- 14 Dietary analysis II: food chemistry
- 15 Collecting arthropods and arthropod remains for primate studies
- 16 Recording primate vocalizations
- 17 Photography and video for field researchers
- 18 Chronobiological aspects of primate research
- 19 Thermoregulation and energetics
- 20 Field endocrinology: monitoring hormonal changes in free-ranging primates
- 21 Collection, storage and analysis of non-invasive genetic material in primate biology
- 22 Tips from the bush: an A–Z of suggestions for successful fieldwork
- Index
- References
3 - Habitat description and phenology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Robert D. Martin
- Introduction
- 1 An ethnoprimatological approach to interactions between human and non-human primates
- 2 Habituating primates: processes, techniques, variables and ethics
- 3 Habitat description and phenology
- 4 Geographical information systems and remote sensing
- 5 Monitoring local weather and climate
- 6 Survey and census methods: population distribution and density
- 7 Trapping primates
- 8 Handling, anaesthesia, health evaluation and biological sampling
- 9 Morphology, morphometrics and taxonomy
- 10 Marking and radio-tracking primates
- 11 Field experiments with non-human primates: a tutorial
- 12 Feeding ecology, frugivory and seed dispersal
- 13 Dietary analysis I: food physics
- 14 Dietary analysis II: food chemistry
- 15 Collecting arthropods and arthropod remains for primate studies
- 16 Recording primate vocalizations
- 17 Photography and video for field researchers
- 18 Chronobiological aspects of primate research
- 19 Thermoregulation and energetics
- 20 Field endocrinology: monitoring hormonal changes in free-ranging primates
- 21 Collection, storage and analysis of non-invasive genetic material in primate biology
- 22 Tips from the bush: an A–Z of suggestions for successful fieldwork
- Index
- References
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Habitat characteristics represent the matrix for the evolution of morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations and life history traits of animals. These include bottom-up factors (such as distribution and abundance of food) and top-down constraints (such as protection from predators). The role of different habitat components in the survival and reproduction of individuals is of prime interest and is relevant for evolutionary understanding as well as for primate conservation. So far, this has been studied by linking habitat characteristics with phenotypic traits of animals, assuming that these traits represent adaptation to a given habitat constraint. However, we should bear in mind that the characteristics we observe today may represent adaptations to constraints that acted in the past (the Epaminondas effect, named after the little boy who always did the right thing for the previous situation; or, in evolutionary terminology: animals are tracking fitness optima by trying to climb the sides of shifting adaptive peaks, Cody, 1974). However, testing hypotheses based on these ‘ghosts of past constraints’ has so far been impossible.
The present chapter focuses on the description of the vegetation of forest habitats as the biotic matrix for the evolution of life history traits. References are to textbooks or publications that illustrate applications of the methods and do not always refer to the original work.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Field and Laboratory Methods in PrimatologyA Practical Guide, pp. 51 - 68Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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