Habitat partitioning among

two sympatric species,

Alouatta seniculus and
Saguinus fuscicollis
(Oglan Alto, Ecuador)
Sarah Martin-Solano, Gabriel Carrillo,
Marie-Claude Huynen

University of Liege
Central University from Ecuador
Escuela Biología y Química UCE
Estación Científica Amazónica UCE
Internacional University Menéndez Pelayo-CSIC
FRIA-FNRS / ECOCIENCIA
 Introduction
 Communities of primate species are common
 Kenya: Colobes, baboons, mangabeys
 Peru: Saddleback tamarin and Moustached
tamarin
 Coexistence
 Mechanisms of interspecific competition
 Differentiation in resource use
 Diferentiation in niche use
 Introduction
 Niche: n-dimensional hypervolume
 Habitat use
 Time budget
 Feeding ecology
Feeding ecology

se
tu
ita
b
Ha

Time Budget
 Habitat Use
 Horizontal  Vertical
 Introduction
 Niche: Multidimensional space
 Habitat use,
 Time Buget
 Feeding ecology
 Texture
 Acidity
 Size

© Tom Brakefield © Seth Allan

Pygmy marmoset Owl monkey

 Study species:

Red howler monkey Saddleback tamarin

© D. Hurst 2006 © L. Culot 2007

Alouatta seniculus Saguinus fuscicollis

 General Characteristics
 Species distribution in Ecuador is restricted to
the Amazonian forest
 Conservation status for both species: Least
Concern
 Ability
 to exploit degraded habitats
 to disperse seeds as a result of their feeding ecology
 Their feeding ecology
 A. seniculus : folivorous – frugivorous
 S. fuscicollis : omnivorous: fruits, insects, small
invertebrates
Alouatta seniculus
Saguinus fuscicollis
 General Objective
 To study social dynamics and resource
partitioning of two sympatric species A.
seniculus y S. fuscicollis in the protected forest
of Oglan Alto, Ecuador
 We are going to study:
 Habitat Use
 Budget Time
 Feeding ecology
 Objectives
 Habitat Use
 Type of forest
 Use of the forest strata
 Home Range
 Hypothesis

 Habitat partitioning would allow the two primate

species to coexist, while minimizing competition
 Specific Hypothesis
 Forest Strata :
tamarins ≠ howlers.
Red howler monkeys

 High degree of home range overlap

Saddleback tamarins

© Fleagle 1998
 Study Area
 Estación Científica Amazónica JJK from
Central University of Ecuador in the
protected forest of Oglan Alto
(01°19’27.5’’|S, 77°41’20.1’’|W)
 Lowland and piedmont forest
 Data collection
 Two study groups:
 Group A: S. fuscicollis
and
 Group B: A. seniculus
Emergents
 Habitat Use
 Group position: 6 am → 6 pm every 20 min
 Strata definition

Higher
Middle Canopy
Lower
Understory
Ground © Leython and Ruiz Zapata 2006
 Data collection
 Primate census
 Direct Observation:
• Location
• # of individuals
• Group composition
 Indirect Observation
• Auditory records:
Vocalizations
• Faeces
• Food consumption traces

D. Holm
 Results and Discussion 1
26,5 ha

Home range average of the howlers group is 33,9 ha and

26.5 ha for the tamarin group

 15,7 ha between the ranges of the two species.

Area de vida
S.fuscicollis

15,7 ha

Area de vida
A. seniculus
33,9 ha
 Colombia

→ 182 ha : Caparu (Palacios and Rodriguez 2001)

→ 25 ha: La Macarena (Izawa and nishimura 1988)
Home Range of Red Howler Monkey in
French Guiana

45 ha: Guyane (C. Julliot 1992)

Home range of Saddle-back tamarin

→15,25 ha Bolivia (Buchanan-Smith, H. 1990)

→15.7-16.5 ha Peru (Soini, P. 1987)
16,3 ha

7,5 ha

23,3 ha
Results and Discussion 2
F. BRAZA, F. ALVAREZ and T. AZCARATE (1981)
Strata Use in tamarins, at Cobija
(Pando Department in Bolivia)

Buchanan-Smith, H. (1990)
South of the River Tahuamanu

Buchanan-Smith, H. (1999)
Strata utilisation by tamarins in Bolivia

Buchanan-Smith (1999)
North of the river Tahuamanu, Bolivia

Porter, L, 2004
 Results and Discussion 2
 Howler monkeys were principally observed in primary
forest
The saddleback tamarins were registered both in the
primary and in the secondary forest
Conclusions

© Fleagle 1998
 Perspectives

 To define the microhabitat in the primary

forest and in the secondary forest:
 Hill, lianas, river terrace, etc.
 To link food resource to habitat use, to
verify if food overlap related to home
range overlap
 To identify both species sleeping sites
 Conclusions
 Habitat partitioning studies are important
to better understand the dynamics of
primate communities and set up
conservation strategies.
Juan José Bravo, Jorge Duque, Santiago Araujno, Cinthia Trujillo, Glenda Pozo, Patricia Bejarano ,
Emilie Bovy, Daniel Holm.
Thank you!

Merci!

Gracias!