Socioecology of Adult Female Patas Monkeys and Vervets in Kenya

Dr. Jill Pruetz is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Iowa State University, specializing in Biological Anthropology. As a primatologist, Dr. Pruetz has studied the behavior of non-human primates such as chimpanzees, spider monkeys, howling monkeys, tamarins, patas monkeys, and vervets in various locales. Countries in which she has conducted fieldwork include Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Kenya, and Senegal. Dr. Pruetz is especially interested in the influence of ecology on primate and early human feeding, ranging, and social behavior. She currently has a research project in southeastern Senegal which has been funded by National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation.

This series is a venue for the publication of PhD-level field studies of wild nonhuman primates in a format that is broadly accessible and more cohesive than the usual and sometimes artificial splicing of field study data into separately published peer-reviewed journal articles. As with other contributions to this series, both books represent a large body of data on wild primates, collected over a period of at least a year. Each monograph begins with an introductory chapter providing background material on the theoretical perspective and history of the topic, followed by information pertaining to the study population(s) and data collection methods. These introductory chapters are then followed by a series of "data chapters" that explore various aspects of the analyses--overall, a format very similar to (but more concise than) that of a PhD dissertation.  Pruetz (Iowa State) frames her study of patas and vervet monkeys around the basic tenets of socioecological theory, which predicts that the abundance and distribution of food resources will play a significant role in shaping patterns of sociality in female primates. In an attempt to elucidate this predictive relationship, Pruetz investigated the impact of food abundance and distribution on patterns of food competition and dominance relationships among adult females in two closely related cercopithecine primates, patas monkeys and vervet monkeys. After an in-depth, sophisticated analysis of the relationships among these various factors, Pruetz concludes that most socioecological models are too broad, and the variables insufficiently quantified, to make reliable predictions about these relationships.  Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. -- L. Swedell, CUNY Queens College

• CH. 1:  The Research QuestionStudy species — Vervets and patas monkeysQuestions and hypothesesSocioecological theory - Food resources and primate behaviorScramble and contest competitionSocial dominanceModels of female social relationshipsTesting the models on Segera: A natural ecological experimentHolding habitat constantOther factors affecting female social behaviorProject goals revisitedStudy groupsStudy subjectsCH. 2.  Measuring primate behavior and ecology“Measuring” ecologyMeasuring food availabilityCommonly used methodsPrimates’ perceptions of the foods available to themClumped resources and contest competitionCH. 3: Foods available to vervet and patas monkeysHypotheses and predictionsDefining a food patchMeasuring food availabilityLarge-scale food availabilityMethodsResultsSmall-scale food availabilityMethodsResultsSwollen thorn foodsFoods in the riverine habitatHerbaceous level food availabilityFood availability on SegeraCH. 4: Feeding behavior of vervets and patas monkeysStudying the feeding behavior of sympatric speciesVervets and patas monkeys: Expected differences and similaritiesWhistling-thorn Acacia: Why focus on one food species?Feeding behaviorContinuous samplingBout sampling Rank-related differences in feeding behaviorPatch depletionMonkeys, Acacia, and antsSpecies differencesWithin-species differences according to rankCH. 5: Contest competition and dominance in vervetsThe concept of dominanceTesting hypothesesResults: Contest competition and dominance in vervetsDominance patterns and feeding competition in vervetsThe significance of dominance to vervetsDominance style in Segera vervets“Typical” cercopithecines?Why a stable, linear dominance hierarchy on Segera?CH. 6: Comparing vervet and patas monkeys in the same habitat.Questions and PredictionsAgonistic and dominance behaviorFood contestability in vervets and patas monkeysDominance in adult femalesFeeding competition and whistling-thorn foodsSignificance of feeding competition to vervet and patas monkeysCH. 7:  Food availability, feeding competition and dominance in vervet and patas monkeys.Female contest competition and dominance in vervets and patas monkeys on SegeraHow do the models rate?Summary and implications for future research