Abstract
Like many other fields, the study of primate social ecology has developed through at least three distinct phases (as reviewed in Terborgh and Janson, 1986). First and earliest, detailed descriptive studies added to our basic natural history knowledge of primates in general (e.g., Struhsaker, 1969; Kinzey, 1977). Explanatory models tended to be based on single species and many competing hypotheses were advanced based on distinct study systems. For instance, the ecology and social behavior of savannah-dwelling baboons were studied as analogies for the ecology and behavior of savannah-dwelling early hominids (e.g., DeVore and Washburn, 1963), or the thick molar enamel of capuchin monkeys was investigated as a model for the thick enamel of hominid dentitions (Kinzey, 1974). Second, as enough descriptive data were amassed, it became possible to begin comparative studies, at first either searching for broad patterns relating ecology and social organization (e.g., Crook and Gartlan, 1966) or testing very general hypotheses linking group size and ranging behavior to diet (Clutton-Brock and Harvey, 1977). Third, across-species compri- sons and detailed descriptive studies focused on hypothetico-deductive tests of specific theories, with the goal of distinguishing (and perhaps eliminating) some of the many competing hypotheses to explain social and ecological variation among primates, including the roles of predation and within- versus between-group competition (e.g., van Schaik, 1983; Terborgh, 1983; Janson, 1990).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altmann, J., and Muruthi, P., 1988, Differences in daily life between semiprovisioned and wild-feeding baboons, Amer.J. Primatol. 15:213–221.
Brown, A. D., and Zunino, G. E., 1990, Dietary variability in Cebus apella in extreme habitats: evidence for adaptability, Folia, primatol. 54: 187–195.
Brown, J. L., 1964, The evolution of diversity in avian territorial systems, Wilson Bull. 76: 160–169.
Cheney, D. L., and Seyfarth, R. M., 1990, How Monkeys See the World, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago IL. 377 pp.
Clutton-Brock, T. H., and Harvey, P. H., 1977, Species differences in feeding and ranging behavior in primates, in Primate ecology: Studies of feeding and ranging behaviour in lemurs, monkeys, and apes (Clutton-Brock, T. H., ed), Academic Press, London, pp. 557–584.
Coelho, A. M., Bramblett, C. A., Quick, L. B., and Bramblett, S. S., 1976, Resource availability and population density in primates: a sociobioenergetic analysis of the energy budgets of Guatemalan howler and spider monkeys, Primates 17: 63–80.
Crook, J. H., and Gartlan, J.S., 1966, Evolution of primate societies, Nature 210: 1200–1203.
DeVore, I., and Washburn, S. L., 1963, Baboon ecology and human evolution, in African Ecology and Human Evolution (Howell, F. C. and Bourliere, F., ed), Aldine, Chicago, pp. 335–367.
Fa, F. E., 1986, Use of time and resources by provisioned troops of monkeys: social behaviour, time, and energy in the Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus L.) at Gibralter, Contributions to Primatology 23: 1–377.
Foster, S. A., and Janson, C. H., 1985, The relationship between seed size, gap dependence, and successional status of tropical rainforest woody species, Ecology 66: 773–780.
Garber, P. A., 1989, Role of spatial memory in primate foraging patterns: Saguinus mystax and Saguinus fuscicollis, Amer. J. Primatol. 19: 203–16.
Garber, P. A., and Hannon, B., 1993, Modeling monkeys: a comparison of computer-generated and naturally occurring foraging patterns in two species of neotropical primates, Int. J. Primatol. 14: 827–852.
Goodall, J., 1986, The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior, Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge MA. xii + 673 pp.
Grether, G. F., Palombit, R. A., and Rodman, P. S., 1992, Gibbon foraging decisions and the marginal value model, International J. Primatology 13: 1–17.
Harcourt, A. H., 1989, Environment, competition and reproductive performance of female monkeys, Trends in Ecol. and Evol 4: 101–105.
Hauser, M. D. and Wrangham, R. W., 1987, Manipulation of food calls in captive chimpanzees, Folia primatol. 48:207–210.
Howe, H. F., 1980, Monkey dispersal and waste of a neotropical fruit, Ecology 61: 944–959.
Janson, C. H., 1984, Female choice and mating system of the brown capuchin monkey Cebus apella (Primates: Cebidae), Z Tierpsych. 65: 177–200.
Janson, C. H., 1985, Aggressive competition and individual food intake in wild brown capuchin monkeys, Behav. Ecol Sociobiol. 18: 125–138.
Janson, C. H., 1987, Ecological correlates of aggression in brown capuchin monkeys, International Journal of Primatology 8: 431.
Janson, C. H., 1988, Food competition in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella): Quantitative effects of group size and tree productivity. Behaviour 105:53–76.
Janson, C. H., 1990, Ecological consequences of individual spatial choice in foraging brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella), Animal Behaviour 38, 922–934.
Kinzey, W. G., 1974, Ceboid models for the evolution of human dentition, J. Human Evol. 3: 193–203.
Kinzey, W. G., 1977, Diet and feeding behaviour of Callicebus torquatus, in Primate Behaviour: studies of feeding and ranging in lemurs, monkeys, and apes (Clutton-Brock, T.H., ed.), Academic Press, London, pp. 127–151.
Kinzey, W. G. and Robinson, J. G., 1983, Intergroup loud calls, range size and spacing in Callicebus torquatus, Amer. J. Physical Anthropol. 60: 539–44.
Kortland, A., 1967, Experimentation with chimpanzees in the wild, in Neue Ergebnisse der Primatologie–Progress in Primatology (Starck, D., Schneider, R., and Kuhn, H. J., eds.), Fischer, Stuttgart, pp. 208–224.
Maynard Smith, J., 1982, Evolution and the theory of games, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, viii + 224 pp.
Mitani, J., 1987, Species discrimination of male song in gibbons, Amer. J. Primatol 13: 413–23.
Robinson, J. G., 1988, Seasonal variation in the use of time and space by the wedge-capped capuchin monkey Cebus olivaceus: Implications for foraging theory, Smithson. Contrib. Zool 431: 1–60.
Seyfarth, R. M., Cheney, D. L., and Marler, P., 1980, Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primat, Anim. Behav. 28: 1070–94.
Sokal, R. R., and Rohlf, F. J., 1981, Biometry, 2nd Edition, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.
Struhsaker, T. T., 1969, Correlates of ecology and social organization among African cercopithecines, Folia primatol. 11:80–118.
Symington, M. M., 1988, Food competition and foraging party size in the black spider monkey (Ateles paniscus chamek), Behaviour 105: 117–134.
Terborgh, J. W., 1983, Five New World primates: A study in comparative ecology, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ, xiv + 260 pp.
Terborgh, J. W. and Janson, C. H., 1986, Socioecology of primates, Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17: 111–135.
van Schaik, C. P., 1983, Why are diurnal primates living in groups? Behaviour 87: 120–144.
van Schaik, C. P., 1989, The ecology of social relationships amongst female primates, in Comparative Socioecology. The Behavioural Ecology of Humans and Other Mammals (Standen, V. and Foley, R. A., eds), Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 195–218.
van Schaik, C. P., and van Noordwijk, M. A., 1988, Scramble and contest in feeding competition among female long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), Behaviour 105: 77–98.
van Schaik, C. P., and van Noordwijk, M. A., 1989, The special role of male Cebus monkeys in predation avoidance and its effect on group composition, Behav. Ecol Sociobiol. 24: 265–276.
Waser, P. M., 1977, Feeding, ranging, and group size in the mangabey Cercocebus albigena, in: Primate ecology: Studies of feeding and ranging behavior in lemurs, monkeys, and apes (Clutton-Brock, T. H., ed), Academic Press, London, pp. 183–222.
Whitten, P. L., 1983, Diet and dominance among female vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), Amer. J. Primatol 5:139–159.
Wrangham, R. W., 1979, On the evolution of ape social systems, Soc. Sci. Inform. 18: 335–68.
Wrangham, R. W., 1980, An ecological model of female-bonded primate groups, Behaviour 75: 262–300.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Janson, C.H. (1996). Toward an Experimental Socioecology of Primates. In: Norconk, M.A., Rosenberger, A.L., Garber, P.A. (eds) Adaptive Radiations of Neotropical Primates. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8770-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8770-9_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4686-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8770-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive