STUDY: Deforestation is changing animal communication
The researchers found differences in howl length between river edge and anthropogenic edge areas, which is an important insight for conservation planning.
PHYS.ORG: ‘Deforestation is changing the way monkeys communicate in their natural habitat, according to a new study. This study, led by an anthropologist at the University of Waterloo, offers the first evidence in animal communication scholarship of differences in vocal behaviours in response to different types of forest edge areas.
Working in a tropical lowland rainforest in Costa Rica, the researchers examined how human-caused forest habitat changes have affected vegetation and, in turn, the rate and length of howling by the group-living howler monkey species.
Led by Laura Bolt, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Waterloo, the study compared how the communication behaviour of the mantled howler monkey differs in forest edges impacted by human activity, known as anthropogenic edges, compared to natural forest edges…
The study found that males howl to defend high-quality resources, with notably longer durations of howling in the forest interior and at river edge areas where vegetation resources are richer. The researchers also found differences in howl length between river edge and anthropogenic edge areas, which is an important insight for conservation planning.
“Howler monkeys eat leaves and fruit, and if they are howling to defend these resources, we predicted that males would howl for longer durations of time when in a forest interior or near the river edge, where vegetation is richer compared to anthropogenic edge,” said Bolt…
With their evidence showing that anthropogenic deforestation is altering howler monkey behaviour, Bolt and her colleagues say that long-term howler monkey conservation initiatives should prioritize preservation of forest interior and river edge regions and re-forestation of human-caused forest edges’. SOURCE…
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