Use of Space by black-and-gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in an urban environment in Paraguay

Rebecca Louise Smith; Xander  Duffy; Jake Wellian

doi:10.1007/s11252-022-01262-3

Use of Space by black-and-gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in an urban environment in Paraguay

Rebecca Louise Smith^* (Corresponding Author), Xander Duffy, Jake Wellian

^*Corresponding author for this work

Biological Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As urbanisation continues to reduce the available habitat for wildlife, some species, including the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) in Pilar, southwest Paraguay, are making their homes in anthropogenic environments. Understanding an animal’s home range is an important step to understanding its ecological needs, and an essential requirement for the creation of robust conservation plans. In this study, we determined the home ranges and core areas of five groups of urban dwelling A. caraya using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) Analysis. We used a Spearman’s Correlation to explore the relationship between home range size and group size. All five groups had home ranges of less than 10 ha and used core areas of less than 1 ha. Group size had no significant relationship to home range size. We provide the first estimates of home range for A. caraya in an urban environment in Paraguay. Though the home ranges of the urban A. caraya in Pilar, Paraguay fall at the smaller end of the spectrum of range sizes in Alouatta, they are not abnormal for a species in this genus.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1777–1786
Number of pages	10
Journal	Urban Ecosystems
Volume	25
Early online date	27 Jul 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-022-01262-3
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Open access via Springer compact agreement
X Duffy would like to thank Queens University School of Biological Sciences. All authors are grateful to the staff, interns and volunteers of Fundación Para La Tierra, the creative community behind the QGIS program. We express our immense gratitude to the Pilar community for their incredible hospitality and friendliness that made this research possible. RL. Smith is grateful to the PRONII program of Conacyt. Thank you to Susan Smith for proof reading this manuscript and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Fundación Para La Tierra is grateful to the estate of Don Julio Contreras for their endless support of PLT’s activities.

Keywords

Atelidae
Home range
Latin America
Primates
Urban wildlife
Urbanisation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Use of Space by black-and-gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in an urban environment in Paraguay",

abstract = "As urbanisation continues to reduce the available habitat for wildlife, some species, including the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) in Pilar, southwest Paraguay, are making their homes in anthropogenic environments. Understanding an animal{\textquoteright}s home range is an important step to understanding its ecological needs, and an essential requirement for the creation of robust conservation plans. In this study, we determined the home ranges and core areas of five groups of urban dwelling A. caraya using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) Analysis. We used a Spearman{\textquoteright}s Correlation to explore the relationship between home range size and group size. All five groups had home ranges of less than 10 ha and used core areas of less than 1 ha. Group size had no significant relationship to home range size. We provide the first estimates of home range for A. caraya in an urban environment in Paraguay. Though the home ranges of the urban A. caraya in Pilar, Paraguay fall at the smaller end of the spectrum of range sizes in Alouatta, they are not abnormal for a species in this genus.",

keywords = "Atelidae, Home range, Latin America, Primates, Urban wildlife, Urbanisation",

author = "Smith, {Rebecca Louise} and Xander Duffy and Jake Wellian",

note = "Open access via Springer compact agreement X Duffy would like to thank Queens University School of Biological Sciences. All authors are grateful to the staff, interns and volunteers of Fundaci{\'o}n Para La Tierra, the creative community behind the QGIS program. We express our immense gratitude to the Pilar community for their incredible hospitality and friendliness that made this research possible. RL. Smith is grateful to the PRONII program of Conacyt. Thank you to Susan Smith for proof reading this manuscript and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Fundaci{\'o}n Para La Tierra is grateful to the estate of Don Julio Contreras for their endless support of PLT{\textquoteright}s activities.",

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doi = "10.1007/s11252-022-01262-3",

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AU - Duffy, Xander

AU - Wellian, Jake

N1 - Open access via Springer compact agreement X Duffy would like to thank Queens University School of Biological Sciences. All authors are grateful to the staff, interns and volunteers of Fundación Para La Tierra, the creative community behind the QGIS program. We express our immense gratitude to the Pilar community for their incredible hospitality and friendliness that made this research possible. RL. Smith is grateful to the PRONII program of Conacyt. Thank you to Susan Smith for proof reading this manuscript and to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Fundación Para La Tierra is grateful to the estate of Don Julio Contreras for their endless support of PLT’s activities.

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N2 - As urbanisation continues to reduce the available habitat for wildlife, some species, including the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) in Pilar, southwest Paraguay, are making their homes in anthropogenic environments. Understanding an animal’s home range is an important step to understanding its ecological needs, and an essential requirement for the creation of robust conservation plans. In this study, we determined the home ranges and core areas of five groups of urban dwelling A. caraya using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) Analysis. We used a Spearman’s Correlation to explore the relationship between home range size and group size. All five groups had home ranges of less than 10 ha and used core areas of less than 1 ha. Group size had no significant relationship to home range size. We provide the first estimates of home range for A. caraya in an urban environment in Paraguay. Though the home ranges of the urban A. caraya in Pilar, Paraguay fall at the smaller end of the spectrum of range sizes in Alouatta, they are not abnormal for a species in this genus.

AB - As urbanisation continues to reduce the available habitat for wildlife, some species, including the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) in Pilar, southwest Paraguay, are making their homes in anthropogenic environments. Understanding an animal’s home range is an important step to understanding its ecological needs, and an essential requirement for the creation of robust conservation plans. In this study, we determined the home ranges and core areas of five groups of urban dwelling A. caraya using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) Analysis. We used a Spearman’s Correlation to explore the relationship between home range size and group size. All five groups had home ranges of less than 10 ha and used core areas of less than 1 ha. Group size had no significant relationship to home range size. We provide the first estimates of home range for A. caraya in an urban environment in Paraguay. Though the home ranges of the urban A. caraya in Pilar, Paraguay fall at the smaller end of the spectrum of range sizes in Alouatta, they are not abnormal for a species in this genus.

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DO - 10.1007/s11252-022-01262-3

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JO - Urban Ecosystems

JF - Urban Ecosystems

ER -

Use of Space by black-and-gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in an urban environment in Paraguay

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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