Primate Conservation
Time budgeting decisions and primate biogeographical distribution
Context
An animal can only survive in a given habitat if it has enough time to find, process and digest food whilst avoiding predation. The time it has for food acquisition is affected by the vegetation and competition with conspecifics. Once we understand the time constraints that species face under certain climatic conditions, we can determine current, past and future distribution patterns.
Approach
We used the relationships between time allocations, on the one hand, and climatic variables (as a proxy for habitat quality) and group size, on the other, to develop a model that predicts maximum ecologically tolerable group size at different locations for different primate genera.
Collaboration
Prof. Robin Dunbar, Oxford University, and Dr Julia Lehmann from Roehampton University. This project forms part of the British Academy centenary project ‘From Lucy to language’
Other financial support
The Leverhulme Trust
Publications
Korstjens AH, J Lehmann, RIM Dunbar (submitted) Multi-species fission-fusion: environmental and social determinants of group size in Cercopithecus.
Korstjens AH, J Lehmann, RIM Dunbar (submitted) The ecological and dietary determinants of forced resting time in primates.
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (submitted). Time management in great apes: implications for gorilla biogeography.
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (submitted). Time and Distribution: a model of Ape Biogeography.
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (submitted). Time and Distribution: a model of Ape Biogeography.
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (submitted). Apes in a changing world – effects of global warming on African ape behaviour and distribution.
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (forthcoming). Group size, grooming and social cohesion in primates. Anim Behav
Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (2007). Fission-fusion social systems as a strategy for coping with ecological constraints: a primate case. Evol Ecol. 21: 613-634
Korstjens, AH, & RIM Dunbar (2007). Time constraints limit group sizes and distribution in red and black-and-white colobus monkeys. Int. J. Primatol.. 28:551-575.DOI 10.1007/s10764-007-9148-2
Korstjens, AH, IL Verhoeckx, & RIM Dunbar (2006). Time as a constraint on group size in spider monkeys. Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 60:683-69
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