Publication: The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest
Issued Date
2017-07-01
Resource Type
ISSN
17447429
00063606
00063606
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-85017434931
Rights
Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Biotropica. Vol.49, No.4 (2017), 546-554
Suggested Citation
Norberto Asensio, Evin Murillo-Chacon, Colleen M. Schaffner, Filippo Aureli The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest. Biotropica. Vol.49, No.4 (2017), 546-554. doi:10.1111/btp.12441 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/41449
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Authors
Journal Issue
Thesis
Title
The effect of roads on spider monkeys’ home range and mobility in a heterogeneous regenerating forest
Abstract
© 2017 The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation Arboreal fauna living in tropical ecosystems may be particularly affected by roads given their dependency on forest cover and the high vulnerability of such ecosystems to changes. Over a period of 4 yr, we followed subgroups of spider monkeys living in a regenerating dry tropical forest with 8.2 km of roads within their home range. We aimed to understand whether roads shaped the home range of spider monkeys and which road features affected their movement. Only 18 percent (3 km) of the spider monkeys’ home range perimeter bordered with roads; these roads had greater habitat disparity between road sides than roads inside the home range. Although monkeys were reluctant to be close to roads, and roadside habitat contained low proportions of mature forest, spider monkeys crossed roads at 69 locations (7.5 crossings per kilometer). The main road characteristic affecting crossings was canopy opening size, with greater probability of crossing where canopy openings were smaller. Our findings support the importance of canopy opening size for road crossing of arboreal taxa, but they also indicate the relevant role roadside forest structure may have. Minimizing canopy opening size and forest disturbance along roads can facilitate the movement of arboreal fauna and preserve the important role of spider monkeys and other arboreal taxa in seed dispersal and thus the maintenance and regeneration of forest diversity.