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Primate Laboratory: participants
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LABORATORIO DE PRIMATOLOGIA
Estación de Biología "Los Tuxtlas"
Instituto de Biología
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Students from years prior to 2007
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Carlos Jímenez
Arano. MSci, Colegio de la
Frontera Sur (ECOSUR - San Cristóbal de las Casas), Chiapas.
GENERAL
ACTIVITY OF BATS MEASURED WITH ULTRASOUND DETECTORS IN PALENQUE NATIONAL PARK, MEXICO.
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David Muñoz Zetina.
Maestría, Colegio de la
Frontera Sur (ECOSUR - San Cristóbal de las Casas). <[email protected]>
Plant resources used as food by howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in a
cacao plantation in Comalcalco, México. Seleciona aquí para
consultar la página de este proyecto
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Alejandra Duarte
Quiroga. Licenciatura, Escuela Nacional de Antropología, CONACULTA, Mexico,
Primate traffic in Mexico City: implications for primate conservation.
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Yasminda
García del Valle. Maestría,Colegio de la
Frontera Sur(ECOSUR - San Cristóbal de las Casas).
Population
genetics of black howler monkeys Alouattapigra)
living in continuous and in fragmented habitat in southern Mexico: a
preliminary study using molecular techniques
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Andrómeda Rivera. Maestría, Colegio de la Frontera
Sur (ECOSUR, Chetumal). [email protected] Asesor: Dr.
Sophie Calme (ECOSUR-Chetumal)
Diet of
Black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) in sites
under different conservation regimes in the region of Calakmul, Campeche,
México
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Lesly Alejandre Sierra. BSci Thesis. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias
Biológicas. Instituto Politecnico Nacional
Nocturnal
activity of insectivorous bats measured with ultrasound detectors in the
tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico.
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Octavio Cruz Lechuga. BSci Thesis. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias
Biológicas. Instituto Politecnico Nacional.
2005-06
Survey
of terrestrial mammals using camera-traps in the tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas,
Mexico
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Nimsi Enciso. Academic Internship June-July, 2006. Escuela de
Ciencias Biologicas, Benemérita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. 2005-06
Activity
patterns of bats in the forest canopy: a preliminary assessment using
ultrasound detectors
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Angel
Merlo. Academic
Internship June-July, 2006. Escuela de Ciencias Biologicas,
Benemérita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. 2005-06
Activity
patterns of bats in the forest canopy: a preliminary assessment using
ultrasound detectors
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Adelina Carbajal. Academic Internship. August 2006. Vet School, Univ del Estado de Mexico
Assisting
surveys of bats and non flying mammals in the tropical rain forest
ecosystem of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico.
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Lucía Castellanos Velázquez, Licenciatura. Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México. [email protected]
Study of the population
and state of conservation sof the Black howler
monkey (Alouatta pigra)
in the Mayan archaeological site of Palenque, Chiapas.
Of the two species of howler monkeys present in
southern Mexico, Alouatta pigra has a restricted geographic
distribution in the country and is an endemic species to the Mesoamerican
region. Our knowledge of aspects of population, ecology, behavior and
conservation for this species is practically non existent. This project
attempts to contribute to such gap of information by gathering data on
aspects of population and state of conservation of A. pigra existing
within the protected area of the Mayan site of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. Field surveys within the Mayan site indicate the
presence of about 200 howlers members of about 20
troops and some solitary individuals. Estimated population density of
howlers at the site is 23 indiv/square km and
mean troop size is 7.0 individuals. We are gathering information on the
conservation pressures upon this important population of A. pigra.
In addition we are working on developing a project to include the howler
monkeys as part of the cultural attraction of the Mayan site, including disemination of the value of preserving these primates
among the local human inhabitants.
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Programa
de Posgrado
Facultad de
Ciencias
UNAM
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Cristina Jasso del Toro. Maestria. Posgrado de Ciencias
Biológicas UNAM.
TROPICAL RAIN FOREST FRAGMENTATION AND THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION
OF YOUNG INDIVIDUALS IN WILD HOWLER MONKEYS (Alouatta
palliata) IN SOUTHERN MEXICO.
Tropical rain forest
fragmentation results in reduction of size of primate populations, in
fragmentation of these into isolated units in the landscape, and in
demographic and social disruption. Because of their importance to
individual fitness, one of the behavior patterns sensible to the process
of demographic and social disruption is the process of socialization of
young individuals. To what extent “normal” socialization
processes in howler monkeys change as a result of the disruption caused
by fragmentation of the population resulting from fragmentation and
isolation of their habitat, and what are the consequences for individual
fitness and subpopulation persistence in fragmented landscapes, are
important questions in our research. With this in mind, we are investigating
the socialization process in juvenile and infants of howler monkey troops
existing in extensive and in fragmented forests in the region of Los Tuxtlas,
Veracruz, Mexico.
We hope that the information we are gathering will further our
documentation of socialization processes in Alouatta and our knowledge of
the behavioral plasticity of howler monkeys. We also expect that such
information will help us emit diagnostics about conservation models that
could be useful in promoting the persistence of populations of howler
monkeys in southern Mexico
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Emilio Barrueta Rath. Programa Posgrado. Colegio de la Frontera Sur. Campeche, México. Maestria. Survey of the population of the primate
population and their conservation status in Calakmul, Campeche, México.
The state of Campeche forms part of the original geographic distribution
of two primate species present in southern Mexico: Alouatta pigra y Ateles geoffroyi.
However, our knowdledge about the size of the populations
of both species and of their current geographic distribution in Campecheis scanty. Such information is urgently needed in view
of the rapid and vast transformation of primate habitats to agrosystems, something which has resulted in the local
extinction of both species. Our project is the first of series aimed at
gathering quantititative data on the size and
demographic structure of populations of A. pigra y A. geoffroyi
in the Callakmul and in surrounding areas in Campeche. The project will attempt to diagnose the pressures
originating from human activity related factors on remaining primate
habitats by surveying primate populations in the protected forest of the Calakmul reserve and in unprotected forests in two
sites in the vicinity. We will attempt to build descriptive models about
the size and distribution of populations of both primate species under
two different kinds of ecological scenarios and to design predictive
models to produce explicit recommendations for the conservations of such
populations.
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Andrómeda Rivera, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de
Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Licenciatura. Effects of tropical rain forest fragmentation on the conservation
of biodiversity: an experimental study with artificial nests in Los Tuxtlas,
Veracruz, México.
The destruction, fragmentation and
isolation of tropical rain forests results in the local disappearance of
species and in a precarious existence for those able to survive. Forest remnants are affected by a continuous degradation
caused by edge effects and by the invasion and activities of the few
species that are favored by these changes. Reproductive success of
individuals of forest species may be affected by these circumstances.
However, information is scanty regarding this. Birds
consitute the most diverse group of vertebrates
in tropical rain forests and their survival is seriously afected by the transformation of tropical landscapes
by man. Thus, the aim of this project, conducted in a landscape of los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, is to determine predation patterns in artificial
nests in four vegetation types: virgin forest, forest-pasture edge,
vegetation corridor along a stream, and live fence formed by the planting
of live posts of two tree species. Experimental design included three
replicates per each vegetation type. At each site we placed on the ground
along a sinuous transect, and at intervals of 50m, 10 nests with three
chicken eggs each and 10 nests with three plasticine
eggs each. Plasticine eggs were used to
determine, by examination of markings, the general identity of the
predator. Survival of both types of eggs was monitored for seven days at
each site. The experiment was repeated three times in a five month period
during 2000. Inicial results indicate that the
lowest and slowest nest predation rates were in the virgin forest tract. Iimportant nest predators were birds, mammals and
possibly reptiles. We assess aditional
conservation problems suggested by such results. Results of this study
can be found in Biological
Conservation, 2002 106 (2): 199-209
Feeding ecology of black howler
monkeys in Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico (Graduate thesis in progress). ECOSUR-Chetumal,
Quintana Roo, Mexico.
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Manuel Oñorbe. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid. Academic Internship, Los Tuxtlas Jan-June 2003.
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ATTITUDES AND
PERCEPTION OF RURAL INHABITANTS OF LOS TUXTLAS ABOUT THE CONSERVATION OF
WILD PRIMATES AND TROPICAL RAIN
FORESTS (abstract soon
in English)
La deforestación,
causada principalmente por la introducción de tierras agrícolas,
ganaderas, por la extracción de madera, el crecimiento poblacional, y la
apertura de nuevos caminos, ha provocado una reducción significativa de
las superficies selváticas en la región. Tal reducción ha resultado, por
un lado, en la extinción local de especies de mamíferos como los
primates, representados estos por monos araña y aulladores. Por el otro
lado, las selvas remanentes han quedado reducidas a fragmentos aislados
de diferentes taños y con diferentes historias de manejo. En algunos de
estos existen poblaciones de primates que en muchos casos viven bajo
condiciones ecológicas y demográficas precarias que las ponen bajo
riesgo. Ante tal problemática, se pretende hacer un diagnóstico en tres
comunidades rurales en la región de los Tuxtlas,
Veracruz, acerca de como perciben los pobladores la pérdida de la selva y
de los primates que la habitan. Nos interesa conocer las posibles
diferencias entre adultos y niños de edad escolar y entre hombres y
mujeres de la población adulta y también determinar si existe una
relación con respecto al nivel socio-económico de las comunidades. Para
conocer la percepción de los habitantes, aplicamos dos encuestas
diferentes: uno dirigido a la población de edad escolar y otro a la
población adulta. Esperamos que los resultados nos proporcionen las
herramientas necesarias para diagnosticar las actitudes de estas
poblaciones y así promover escenarios de conservación de las selvas incorporando
programas de educación ambiental que favorezcan un aprovechamiento
razonable de los recursos selváticos para beneficio de las comunidades
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Ana
Ibarra M. División Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de
Tabasco. [email protected] Comparative study of the avifauna of two
traditional cocoa plantations in La Chontalpa
region in Tabasco, México.
In the state of Tabasco
in southern Mexico,
it has been estimated that only about 2% of the area of original tropical
rain forests exists in the form of small and scattered fragments. As a
consequence of this human-induced transformation, many bird species are
found in areas managed for agriculture, cattle ranching, logging and
urban settlements. In some Neotropical regions,
traditional agroecosystems such as shaded
coffee and cocoa may conserve some original components of the avian
community of the forest. However, lack of sufficient studies difficult
the evaluation of the value of these man-made habitats for the
conservation of avian populations. The present study is a contribution in
this direction and it is aimed at describing avian communities present in
a typical agroecosystem in Tabasco,
traditional cocoa growing. In a year-long study, 84 avian species were
recorded in two 3.5 ha cocoa plantations. Twenty four percent of the
species recorded were Neotropical migrants. In
spite of the great similarity in the composition and structure of the vegetation
between both sites, 46% of the bird species recorded were
in one of the two plantations, indicating an important additive effect
between plantations. Among the principal factors wich
may favour the existence of the high diversity
of bird species detected at the plantations investigated are the
floristic richness, vertical heterogeneity of the vegetation and
associated food resources.
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Adrián Mendoza R. Departamento de Biología, Facultad de
Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. [email protected] Survey of the
population of the Black Howler monkey (Alouatta
pigra) in the fragmented ladscape
surrounding the Mayan site of Palenque, Chiapas, México. The
two species of howler monkeys existing in Mexico
are Alouatta palliata
and A. pigra.
The first has a broad geographic distribution in México
and in Central Amérca.
However, A. pigra
has a restricted geographic distribution in southern México and this
primate is an endemic species to the Mesoamerican region. Our knowledge
regarding aspects of population, ecology, behavior and conservation for
this species is particularly poor. Such void of information is the case for
populations existing in extensive areas of rain forest as well as for those
existing under fragmented conditions in Mesoamerica.
What kind of differences exist between populations inhabiting extensive
forests and those in fragmented habitats in population parameters such as
size, demographic structure, crude density, ecological density, etc., it is
something that has not been documented for the species. This project, a
complement to that of Lucía Castellanos
(see above) with the same species in the forest of the Mayan site of Palenque,
attempts to gather information on the above population parameters for the
population of A. pigra inhabited forest fragments in
a 10 km perimeter around the Mayan site. Preliminary surveys in some forest
fragments around the site indicate the local extinction of the species and
the presence of isolated troops. These are, on average, smaller than those
detected at the Mayan site and displayed al altered demographic structure.We hope this study will provide information
to enrich our understanding of the demographic responses of A. pigra
to the fragmentation of its habitats by human activity. We hope the
information will be useful to provide recommendations for the conservation
of the howler monkey population existing in the landscapes surrounding the
Mayan site of Palenque.
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Tana Barrueta
Rath
Graduate student Colegio de la Frontera Sur - ECOSUR - Chiapas
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Tana Barrueta Rath.
Graduate Student,
Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
[email protected]
- Demographic survey and diet of Alouatta pigra
and Ateles geoffroyi
at El Tormento, Campeche, Mexico (Master´s thesis).
- Genetic variation, gene flow and
paternity in a population of Alouatta pigra in Campeche, Mexico(Ph.D Dissertation in
progress)
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Sarie Van Belle, Departament of Biology, University
of Gent, Ghent,
Bélgica. [email protected] Conservation biology of
tropical rain forest mammals with special emphasis on wild primates in Los Tuxtlas (Veracruz), Palenque (Chiapas) and Calakmul Biosphere
Reserve (Campeche), Mexico. Academic Internship
(2001-2002). Conservation
and study of tropical biodiversity is fundamental to sustain a balanced environemnt world wide. Tropical rain forests harbour an important genetic pool of plant and animal
species, but many segments of this gene pool have disappeared locally and
many others are at risk as a result of land-managment
practices incompatible with a rational use of tropical rain forest
resources. The wild primates of tropical rain forests are among the most
conspicuous animal components in these habitats and their existence is
fundamental in the life of the forest. They participate, through their
foraging activities, in the cycling of matter, nutrient and energy and many
of them act as important seed dispersal agents, contributing to the
reproductive strategy of a broad spectrum of plant species and to the
natural process of rain forest regeneration. The conservation of wild
primates at the northernmost representation of the Amazon rain forest in
southern Mexico is an iimportant
contribution to the above problem. I am involved in such task by helping
Dr. A. Estrada and his research team in surveying and monitoring
populations of howler and spider monkeys in areas in southern Mexico such as Los Tuxtlas (Veracruz), Comalcalco (Tabasco), Palenque (Chiapas), Calakmul (Campeche)
and in other sites in the Yucatán peninsula.
Academic Internship Feb-July 2003. Use of non invasive techniques in the study of
hormones and behavior in wild populations of primates (click here
for details of this project)
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Reyna Pacheco Olvera
Biología, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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- Tropical rain forest conservation and perception of local inhabitants
(Undergrad thesis)
- Seed
dispersal by howler monkeys and tropical rain forest restoration (Master`s thesis)
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Alejandra Duarte
National School
of Anthropology (Mexico City)
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- Traffic and hunting of wild primates
- Primate pet-human relations
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Primates as Pets in Mexico City:
an Assessment of Species Involved, Source of
Origin and General Aspects of Treatment. Large human populations found in cities are an
important source of demand for wildlife as pets, including primates and not
much is known about the primate species involved, their general origin, the
length of time they are pets and about some of the maintenance problems as
pets. We report here the results of a survey conducted in Mexico
City among primate pet owners aimed at providing
some of the above information. Using an ethnographic approach, pet owners
were treated as informants to gain his/her trust bringing us into their
homes where we learned about the life of their primate pets. We surveyed
179 cases of primate pet ownership and results indicate the use of 12
primate species. Of these, three were native species (Ateles
geoffroyi, Alouatta
pigra and A. palliata).
The rest were other neotropical
primate species not present in Mexico
and some Paleotropical species. Spider monkeys
and the two species of howler monkeys present in Mexico
accounted for 67% and 15% of the primate cases investigated, respectively.
The most expensive primate pets were those from abroad, while the least
expensive were the Mexican species. About 45% of the native primate pets
were obtained by owners in a large market in Mexico
city and the rest were
obtained in southern Mexico.
While providing companionship for children and adults, primate pets are
subjected to a series of vicissitudes, some of which put their lives at
risk. The demand by city dwellers of primate pets exerts an important
pressure, along with habitat destruction and fragmentation, on wild
populations in southern Mexico.
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Yasminda García del Valle,
División Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco. [email protected] Use of food resources by a
free-ranging troop of howler monkeys (Alouatta
palliata) in the Yumká Park, Tabasco.
The state of Tabasco in southern
Mexico harbors representatives of
the three species of wild primates that exist in Mexico:
Alouatta palliata,
A. pigraand Ateles geoffroyi.
As a result of human activity a great proportion of the habitats of these
three primates have disappeared or exist in a fragmented condition. Data on
the natural history, ecology and behavior of these primate species is
practically non existent for the state. This project attempts to contribute
to this void of information by investigating the feeding ecology of a troop
of A. palliata living in a 32 ha forest
fragment located in the Yumká zoological park,
about 15 miles from the city of Villahermosa. We hope that the information
being gathered will enrich our data banks on the feeding ecology of the
species in Tabasco. Such
information is fundamental to understand the adaptational
flexibility of members of the species to extreme conditions of habitat
reduction and isolation. Such information will be useful as well in the
design of conservation measures for segments of the remnant populations of Alouatta
existing under similar conditions in other areas of Tabasco.
Use of non invasive techniques in the
study of genetic variation and gene flow in wild population of primates in
southern Mexico (see details by clicking here). Graduate thesis (ECOSUR-San Crtistóbal
de la Casas, Chiapas, Mexico).
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Joseph Hawes, Biologist, Nottingham University (UK) [email protected] Academic Internship March-August
2003.
Having completed my bachelor’s
degree in biology I decided to join the primate research group at Los Tuxtlas to gain further field experience of practical
research and conservation methods, with a view to post-graduate study. I am
particularly interested in animal behaviour and
ecology with my focus here being the role of howler monkeys in seed
dispersal, and their potential importance in the regeneration of a fragmented
landscape. A parallell aim of mine is to
encourage involvment by the local communities in
the research, conservation and regeneration of the forest, and to learn
about their use of forest resources and their environmental education
programs. In addition, as part of this research team, I participate in
projects researching aspects of population genetics and parasite loads
through non-invasive faecal collection, and
projects collecting information on the population parameters of the three
species of primate found in southern Mexico.
I hope my contribution will help to enhance the current data banks, and to
improve our understanding of the rainforest sytem.
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David Muñoz Zetina, División
Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco. [email protected] <span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
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