Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

from the current data set almost certainly reflects a deficiency in the ethnoecological
method.
Table 7.14. Comparison of ethnoecological and ecological data sets for Ateles paniscus
Subject Ethnoecological
observations
Ecological observations
Diet Fruits most important 82.9% of feeding observations fruits, 7.9%
foods, young leaves and young leaves, 6.4% flowers [1]
flowers also eaten. 85.4% of feeding observations fruits, 9.5%
Food shortage during dry young leaves, 2.5% flowers [2]
season, dry season foods Dry weight of stomach samples included
are fruits of Oenocarpus 90.23% fruit, 9.59% leaves [3]
bataua, Parinari excelsa Fruit availability declines in dry season, over
and Hymenaea oblongata which period proportion of diet comprised of
and young leaves flowers and leaves increases [1]
including those of Proportion of leaves in diet rises to 25.96%
Catostemma fragrans. in season of lowest fruit availability [3]
Fat during rainy season. Accumulate fat reserves during period of
Disperse seeds of most maximum fruit availability [1]
fruits eaten
In 93.5% of fruit feeding records, seeds
endozoochorously. dispersed endozoochorously, including 138
of 171 species whose fruits eaten [1]
Intraspecific Groups sizes 1-15, most Total group size 15-20, but entire group
commonly 4-6
rarely together: forage in subgroups of 1-6,
Call more frequently most commonly 2-4 [1]
during season of food Call less frequently in dry season than rainy
shortage
season[1,4]
Resting place Emergent Itki’izi trees Only emergent trees with particular
(not identified) used for characteristics used for sleeping, restricted
sleeping
to a small number species [1]
Ranging Most interviewees
consider fixed home
ranges to be used
Groups use fixed home ranges [1]
Habitat use Restricted to high forest Vast majority of sightings in high forest [1]
Water drunk from tree Numbers of A. belzebuth drastically reduced
holes
in disturbed cf. undisturbed forest [5]
Observed to drink water from tree holes [2]
Reproduction Litter size one
Litter size one [1]
Births concentrated in
rainy season
Birth peak at end of shot dry season [1]
Interspecific Predated by Harpia No apparent fear of Harpia harpyja [4]
harpyja
Predation on a young individual observed by
Sometimes pelt humans Morphnus guianensis, which is apparently
with rotten wood
exclusive with Harpia harpyja [6]
[1] Roosmalen 1985b [2] Simmen and Sabatier 1996 [3] Guillotin et al. 1994
[4] Roosmalen and Klein1988 [5] Bernstein et al. 1976 [6] Julliot 1994
It is likely that working with larger numbers of ethnoecological informants would
increase the number of food plants recorded, at least up to a point, and rectify
particularly important omissions. However, the large disparity between the numbers
of food plants recorded by the two methods suggests that even with more