What extant primates eat: a global survey

Hawes, Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0053-2018 , Peres, Carlos and Smith, Andrew (2024) What extant primates eat: a global survey. In: Lambert, Joanna, Bryer, Margaret and Rothman, Jessica, (eds.) How primates eat: a synthesis of nutritional ecology across a mammal order. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, US, pp. 35-51. Full text not available from this repository.

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Abstract

Primate dietary profiles have been the focus of a vast cumulative effort of observational field studies which now enable an enhanced level of comparative analysis. Attempts to classify dietary strategies into discrete categories inevitably lead to a loss of detail and often overlook geographic, seasonal, and other forms of variation. We review the feeding ecology and major dietary classes for non-human primates worldwide, demonstrating cases of considerable overlap and proposing an alternative approach that acknowledges the blurriness of boundaries along a continuous spectrum of dietary strategies. This view is supported by a case study showing the highly variable degree of frugivory across platyrrhine primates, and a preliminary extension of this approach to primate taxa worldwide. We explore the association between diet and the anatomical constraint of body size, while emphasizing the complex inter-relationships with behavioral, morphological, physiological, and other variables. In developing the continuum concept, a comprehensive synthesis and accompanying database of primate feeding studies and species traits, would help inform models to better understand the multi-dimensional drivers of dietary decisions.

Item Type:	Book Section
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
ISBN:	9780226829753
Departments:	Institute of Science and Environment > Forestry and Conservation
Depositing User:	Joseph Hawes
Date Deposited:	29 Aug 2024 09:34
Last Modified:	29 Aug 2024 09:34
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7847