RESUMO
Following behavior is a well-documented foraging specialization in Neotropical birds, which consists of individuals of solitary or mixed-flocking species following other moving animals to capture fleeing prey. Here, we report two observations of the cryptic forest-falcon, Micrastur mintoni following troops of primates during an ornithological inventory in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. During both observations, the falcon emitted a typical vocalization and captured fleeing insects dispersed by the primates moving through the forest while foraging. This is the first report of an apparently commensal association between a Micrastur forest falcon and two species of primates.(AU)
O comportamento de following é uma especialização de forrageamento bem documentada em aves neotropicais, que consiste em indivíduos de espécies solitárias ou em bandos mistos seguindo outros animais em movimento para capturar presas afugentadas. Aqui reportamos duas observações do falcão-críptico, Micrastur mintoni seguindo grupos de primatas, durante um inventário ornitológico na Amazônia oriental brasileira. Durante as duas observações, o falcão emitiu uma vocalização típica e capturou insetos afugentados pelos primatas em movimento pela floresta enquanto forrageavam. Esse é o primeiro relato de uma associação aparentemente comensal entre um falcão florestal do gênero Micrastur e duas espécies de primatas.(AU)
Assuntos
Primatas/fisiologia , Comportamento Animal , Falconiformes/fisiologia , Simbiose , BrasilRESUMO
Terrestrial arthropod groups, including insects, spiders, and millipedes, represent an important food resource for primates. However, species consumed and patterns and rates of arthropod-related feeding for most frugivorous primates are still poorly known. We examined stomach contents of 178 Amazonian primate specimens of nine genera and three families obtained from community-based collections voluntarily donated by subsistence hunters. Based on our results, we assessed whether consumption patterns followed the expected negative relationship between arthropod ingestion and body size as postulated in the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. We identified 12 consumed arthropod taxa, including insects (beetles, grasshoppers, ants, flies, caterpillars, praying mantises, and others), spiders and millipedes. Medium and large-bodied primates consumed a greater diversity (measured by Simpson's diversity index) and richness of arthropods, but differed in terms of composition of taxa consumed. Cacajao, Sapajus and Cebus consumed proportionally more Orthoptera and Coleoptera compared to the other primate genera analyzed. We did not find significant correlations between richness and diversity of arthropods consumed and primate body mass. There was a slight tendency for the decrease in the relative content of arthropods in the diet with increased body mass in medium and large primates, which does not provide full support for the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. The study of arthropod consumption by arboreal primates in the wild remains challenging. Our study suggests that arthropods supply essential nutrients for frugivorous primates, and provides an alternative method to analyse faunal consumption patterns in primates.(AU)
Grupos de artrópodes terrestres, incluindo insetos, aranhas e milípedes, representam um importante recurso alimentar para muitos primatas. Porém, espécies consumidas e padrões de consumo de artrópodes ainda são pouco conhecidos para a maioria dos primatas frugívoros. Nós examinamos o conteúdo estomacal de 178 espécimes de primatas amazônicos, de nove gêneros e três famílias, provenientes de coletas de base comunitária, doados voluntariamente por caçadores de subsistência. Com base em nossos resultados, avaliamos se os padrões de consumo seguem a relação negativa esperada em relação ao tamanho corporal, conforme postulado nos modelos de Jarman-Bell e Kay. Identificamos 12 taxa de artrópodes consumidos, incluindo insetos (besouros, gafanhotos, formigas, moscas, lagartas, louva-a-deuses, entre outros), aranhas e milípedes. Primatas de médio e grande porte consumiram maior diversidade (medida pelo índice de diversidade de Simpson) e riqueza de artrópodes, mas difeririam na composição dos taxa consumidos. Cacajao, Sapajus e Cebus consumiram proporcionalmente mais Orthoptera e Coleoptera que os outros gêneros analizados. Não encontramos correlações significativas entre riqueza ou diversidade de artrópodes consumidos e a massa corporal dos primatas. Houve uma leve tendência de diminuição no conteúdo relativo de artrópodes na dieta com o aumento da massa corporal de primatas médios e grandes, o que não fornece suporte completo para os modelos de Jarman-Bell e de Kay. O estudo do consumo de artrópodes por primatas arborícolas na natureza continua sendo desafiador. Nosso estudo sugere que os artrópodes fornecem nutrientes essenciais para primatas frugívoros, e apresenta um método alternativo para estudar padrões de consumo de fauna por primatas.(AU)
Assuntos
Animais , Primatas/fisiologia , Artrópodes , Cadeia Alimentar , Ingestão de Alimentos/fisiologiaRESUMO
Os primatas não-humanos (PNHs) são tidos como importantes modelos para estudos biomédicos devido à sua grande similaridade biológica com os seres humanos. As técnicas de reprodução assistida (TRAs) constituem uma importante ferramenta para realização de estudos que envolvam infertilidade, desenvolvimento de contraceptivos, gestação e desenvolvimento fetal, preservação da fertilidade em pacientes com câncer, geração de modelos experimentais por meio de técnicas de edição gênica, entre outros. O objetivo dessa revisão é discutir as principais TRAs utilizadas em PNHs e suas aplicações. Dentre as técnicas mais utilizadas em PNHs, podem-se citar colheita e criopreservação de sêmen, monitoramento do ciclo ovariano, estimulação ovariana controlada e aspiração de folículos ovarianos, fecundação in vitro, injeção intracitoplasmática de espermatozoides, inseminação artificial, microinjeção para injeção gênica, biopsia embrionária, criopreservação de embriões, transferência de embriões, diagnóstico de gestação, enxerto de gônadas e clonagem. Os estudos apresentados nesta revisão mostram a evolução das TRAs e suas diferentes aplicações. Particularmente, os estudos de edição gênica e clonagem representam um grande avanço na utilização combinada de diversas TRAs para geração de modelos biomédicos para doenças humanas, demostrando o papel dessas técnicas para avanços científicos no que diz respeito à saúde humana.
Nonhuman Primates (NHPs) are considered important models for biomedical studies due to their high biological proximity with humans. The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) represent an important tool to perform studies related to infertility, development of contraceptives, gestation and fetal development, fertility preservation in cancer patients, generation of experimental models through gene editing techniques, among others. The objective of this review is to discuss the main ARTs used in NHPs and their application. Among the most used techniques in NHPs, we can include collection and cryopreservation of semen, ovarian cycle monitoring, controlled ovarian stimulation and follicle aspiration, in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, artificial insemination, microinjections for gene editing, embryo biopsy, embryo cryopreservation, embryo transfer, pregnancy diagnosis, grafting of gonadal tissue, and cloning. The studies cited in this review illustrate the evolution of the ARTs and their applications. The gene editing and cloning studies, in particular, represent the great advancements on the combined use of several different ARTs for the generation of biomedical models for human diseases, demonstrating the role of these techniques in the scientific advancement with regards to human health.
Assuntos
Humanos , Animais , Desenvolvimento Fetal , Fertilização in vitro , Primatas/fisiologia , Técnicas de Reprodução AssistidaRESUMO
Many (re)emerging infectious diseases in humans arise from pathogen spillover from wildlife or livestock, and accurately predicting pathogen spillover is an important public health goal. In the Americas, yellow fever in humans primarily occurs following spillover from non-human primates via mosquitoes. Predicting yellow fever spillover can improve public health responses through vector control and mass vaccination. Here, we develop and test a mechanistic model of pathogen spillover to predict human risk for yellow fever in Brazil. This environmental risk model, based on the ecology of mosquito vectors and non-human primate hosts, distinguished municipality-months with yellow fever spillover from 2001 to 2016 with high accuracy (AUC = 0.72). Incorporating hypothesized cyclical dynamics of infected primates improved accuracy (AUC = 0.79). Using boosted regression trees to identify gaps in the mechanistic model, we found that important predictors include current and one-month lagged environmental risk, vaccine coverage, population density, temperature and precipitation. More broadly, we show that for a widespread human viral pathogen, the ecological interactions between environment, vectors, reservoir hosts and humans can predict spillover with surprising accuracy, suggesting the potential to improve preventive action to reduce yellow fever spillover and avert onward epidemics in humans. This article is part of the theme issue 'Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover'.
Assuntos
Aedes/virologia , Surtos de Doenças , Características de História de Vida , Mosquitos Vetores/virologia , Primatas/fisiologia , Febre Amarela/epidemiologia , Animais , Brasil/epidemiologia , Doenças Transmissíveis Emergentes/epidemiologia , Surtos de Doenças/veterinária , Meio Ambiente , Modelos Teóricos , Vacinação , Febre Amarela/veterinária , Febre Amarela/virologia , Vírus da Febre Amarela/fisiologiaRESUMO
Because the white matter of the cerebral cortex contains axons that connect distant neurons in the cortical gray matter, the relationship between the volumes of the 2 cortical compartments is key for information transmission in the brain. It has been suggested that the volume of the white matter scales universally as a function of the volume of the gray matter across mammalian species, as would be expected if a global principle of wiring minimization applied. Using a systematic analysis across several mammalian clades, here we show that the volume of the white matter does not scale universally with the volume of the gray matter across mammals and is not optimized for wiring minimization. Instead, the ratio between volumes of gray and white matter is universally predicted by the same equation that predicts the degree of folding of the cerebral cortex, given the clade-specific scaling of cortical thickness, such that the volume of the gray matter (or the ratio of gray to total cortical volumes) divided by the square root of cortical thickness is a universal function of total cortical volume, regardless of the number of cortical neurons. Thus, the very mechanism that we propose to generate cortical folding also results in compactness of the white matter to a predictable degree across a wide variety of mammalian species.
Assuntos
Córtex Cerebral/anatomia & histologia , Substância Cinzenta/anatomia & histologia , Neurônios/citologia , Substância Branca/anatomia & histologia , Animais , Artiodáctilos/anatomia & histologia , Artiodáctilos/fisiologia , Córtex Cerebral/citologia , Córtex Cerebral/fisiologia , Conectoma , Substância Cinzenta/citologia , Substância Cinzenta/fisiologia , Humanos , Neurônios/fisiologia , Tamanho do Órgão/fisiologia , Especificidade de Órgãos , Primatas/anatomia & histologia , Primatas/fisiologia , Roedores/anatomia & histologia , Roedores/fisiologia , Escandêntias/anatomia & histologia , Escandêntias/fisiologia , Substância Branca/citologia , Substância Branca/fisiologiaRESUMO
Wildlife physiological responses to environmental and human-related stressors provide useful clues on animal welfare. Non-invasive biomarkers, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM), allow researchers to assess whether variations in habitat quality, behavior, and climate influence the animals' physiological stress. We examined the role of fragment size, ambient temperature, ripe fruit availability and consumption, percentage of records moving, sex, female reproductive state, and group composition as predictors of the level of fGCM in adult brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting three small (<10â¯ha) and three large (>90â¯ha) Atlantic Forest fragments in southern Brazil. We collected bimonthly behavioral data and fecal samples from adult individuals over three years, and used a multimodel inference framework to identify the main predictors of fGCM. We found that the mean (±SD) fGCM in the study groups ranged from 57⯱â¯49â¯ng/g to 93⯱â¯58â¯ng/g, which were within the known range for howler monkeys. We found 10 best models including five of the 17 tested variables. Sex and reproductive state were the only variables included in all these models. We found that fGCM was higher in nursing females (mean⯱â¯SDâ¯=â¯104⯱â¯73â¯ng/g) than in non-nursing females (64⯱â¯55â¯ng/g) and males (53⯱â¯40â¯ng/g, Pâ¯<â¯0.05) and that it decreased with increasing ripe fruit consumption and minimum temperature. However, fragment size did not predict fGCM concentration (groups in small fragmentsâ¯=â¯71⯱â¯58â¯ng/g vs. groups in large fragmentsâ¯=â¯63⯱â¯54â¯ng/g, Pâ¯>â¯0.05). We conclude that factors related to the energetic balance of individuals play major roles in modulating the physiological stress of brown howler monkeys. Future studies should investigate the consequences of higher levels of stress hormones on howler monkey health and demography.
Assuntos
Exposição Ambiental/estatística & dados numéricos , Primatas/fisiologia , Estresse Fisiológico , Alouatta , Animais , Brasil , Ecossistema , Exposição Ambiental/análise , Comportamento Alimentar , Feminino , Florestas , Masculino , Primatas/psicologiaRESUMO
Land-use change modifies the spatial structure of terrestrial landscapes, potentially shaping the distribution, abundance and diversity of remaining species assemblages. Non-human primates can be particularly vulnerable to landscape disturbances, but our understanding of this topic is far from complete. Here we reviewed all available studies on primates' responses to landscape structure. We found 34 studies of 71 primate species (24 genera and 10 families) that used a landscape approach. Most studies (82%) were from Neotropical forests, with howler monkeys being the most frequently studied taxon (56% of studies). All studies but one used a site-landscape or a patch-landscape study design, and frequently (34% of studies) measured landscape variables within a given radius from the edge of focal patches. Altogether, the 34 studies reported 188 responses to 17 landscape-scale metrics. However, the majority of the studies (62%) quantified landscape predictors within a single spatial scale, potentially missing significant primate-landscape responses. To assess such responses accurately, landscape metrics need to be measured at the optimal scale, i.e. the spatial extent at which the primate-landscape relationship is strongest (so-called 'scale of effect'). Only 21% of studies calculated the scale of effect through multiscale approaches. Interestingly, the vast majority of studies that do not assess the scale of effect mainly reported null effects of landscape structure on primates, while most of the studies based on optimal scales found significant responses. These significant responses were primarily to landscape composition variables rather than landscape configuration variables. In particular, primates generally show positive responses to increasing forest cover, landscape quality indices and matrix permeability. By contrast, primates show weak responses to landscape configuration. In addition, half of the studies showing significant responses to landscape configuration metrics did not control for the effect of forest cover. As configuration metrics are often correlated with forest cover, this means that documented configuration effects may simply be driven by landscape-scale forest loss. Our findings suggest that forest loss (not fragmentation) is a major threat to primates, and thus, preventing deforestation (e.g. through creation of reserves) and increasing forest cover through restoration is critically needed to mitigate the impact of land-use change on our closest relatives. Increasing matrix functionality can also be critical, for instance by promoting anthropogenic land covers that are similar to primates' habitat.
Assuntos
Ecossistema , Primatas/fisiologia , Animais , FlorestasRESUMO
Ecosystems largely depend, for both their functioning and their ecological integrity, on the ecological traits of the species that inhabit them. Non-human primates have a wide geographic distribution and play vital roles in ecosystem structure, function, and resilience. However, there is no comprehensive and updated compilation of information on ecological traits of all the world's primate species to accurately assess such roles at a global scale. Here we present a database on some important ecological traits of the world's primates (504 species), including home range size, locomotion type, diel activity, trophic guild, body mass, habitat type, current conservation status, population trend, and geographic realm. We compiled this information through a careful review of 1,216 studies published between 1941 and 2018, resulting in a comprehensive, easily accessible and user-friendly database. This database has broad applicability in primatological studies, and can potentially be used to address many research questions at all spatial scales, from local to global.
Assuntos
Ecossistema , Primatas/fisiologia , Animais , Conservação dos Recursos Naturais , Bases de Dados Factuais , Dinâmica PopulacionalRESUMO
Primates employ many strategies to deal with the costs of reproduction. While income breeders exploit the food available in their environment during lactation, the most costly phase of reproduction, capital breeders tend to store energy for use in the period. We analyzed the relationship between resource availability and lactation in Callicebus coimbrai (n = 2 groups) and Callicebus nigrifrons (n = 2 groups) in four Brazilian Atlantic forest remnants, to assess their breeding strategy. We recorded the occurrence of births and breastfeeding events to assess birth seasonality and lactation period and length while monitoring monthly fruit availability. We recorded 11 births (five for C. coimbrai, and six for C. nigrifrons), all restricted to the end of the lean season and the beginning of the rich season. Lactation coincided with periods of increased fruit availability. We suggest that the breeding pattern of Callicebus coimbrai and C. nigrifrons is compatible with an income-based breeding strategy.
Assuntos
Florestas , Lactação , Primatas/fisiologia , Reprodução , Estações do Ano , Comportamento Sexual Animal , Animais , Brasil , Dieta , Feminino , FrutasRESUMO
The pulvinar receives direct visual information from the retina and indirect visual information from several cortical and subcortical areas. In this chapter, we discuss the visuotopic organization of the primate pulvinar. Electrophysiological techniques have been systematically employed to study pulvinar visuotopy in the owl, capuchin, and macaque monkeys. A single map of the visual field has been described in the pulvinar of the owl monkey, while two independent maps have been described in the capuchin and macaque pulvinar.