Article

Food competition in a semi-free-ranging Cebus apella group

Details

Citation

Ferreira RG, Lee PC & Izar P (2008) Food competition in a semi-free-ranging Cebus apella group. Folia Primatologica, 79 (6), pp. 463-475. https://doi.org/10.1159/000158525

Abstract
The competitive regime faced by individuals is fundamental to modelling the evolution of social organisation. In this paper, we assess the relative importance of contest and scramble food competition on the social dynamics of a provisioned semifree-ranging Cebus apella group (n= 18). Individuals competed directly for provisioned and clumped foods. Effects of indirect competition were apparent with individuals foraging in different areas and with increased group dispersion during periods of low food abundance. We suggest that both forms of competition can act simultaneously and to some extent synergistically in their influence on social dynamics; the combination of social and ecological opportunities for competition and how those opportunities are exploited both influence the nature of the relationships within social groups of primates as well as underlying the evolved social structure.

Keywords
brown capuchin; activity budgets; dominance; competition; social proximity; socio-ecological models

Journal
Folia Primatologica: Volume 79, Issue 6

StatusPublished
Publication date31/12/2008
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/622
PublisherKarger
ISSN0015-5713