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Oecologia (2016) 182:973984
DOI 10.1007/s00442-016-3739-6
PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGY - ORIGINAL RESEARCH
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4327-6544
Web End = Received: 7 December 2015 / Accepted: 19 September 2016 / Published online: 28 September 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
individuals. However, protein intake was negatively associated with fGCM, highlighting the interplay among macro-nutrients, metabolism, and the endocrine system. Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites were also positively related to fruit availability, but this relationship was most likely due to social stress associated with intergroup encounters and resource defense that occurred when preferred trees were fruiting. Behavioral strategies such as dietary shifts and nutrient mixing, and metabolic adaptations such as low energy expenditure allowed individuals to fulll their minimum energy requirements even during periods of decreased resource availability and intake. The present study suggests that seasonal variations in food, macronutrient, and energy acquisition may have limited physiological costs for animals that exploit different types of plant resources such as howler monkeys.
Keywords Energy decits Food availability
Glucocorticoids Howler monkeys Nutrient intake
Introduction
In recent years, there has been increased research on how the ecological characteristics of changing environments affect the physiological response of organisms, and, in particular, how physiology mediates the responses of individuals to the spatial, temporal, and nutritional heterogeneity of the environment (Raubenheimer et al. 2012). Seasonal uctuations in food availability represent a major challenge to animals that must fulll their nutritional demands, especially during periods of food scarcity (Wingeld 2013). Failure to consume sufcient nutrients during these periods may result in nutritional stress, dened as a nutrient and energy imbalance (Jeanniard du Dot et al. 2009), and
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Web End = Fluctuations in daily energy intake do not cause physiological stress in a Neotropical primate living in a seasonal forest
Rodolfo MartnezMota1 Nicoletta Righini1,2http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4327-6544
Web End = Rupert Palme3
Abstract Animals may face periods of nutritional stress due to short-term food shortage and/or low energy consumption associated with seasonal uctuations in resource availability. We tested the hypothesis that periods of restricted macronutrient and energy intake result in energy decits and physiological stress in wild black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra) inhabiting seasonal tropical semi-deciduous forests. We conducted full-day follows of focal animals recording feeding rates, time spent feeding, and total amount of food ingested. We carried out nutritional analysis...