Effects of Selective Logging on the Behavioral Ecology of West Malaysian Primates

Abstract

This study documents changes within a community of one nocturnal and five dirunal primate species in response to selective logging of their tropical rain-forest habitat. Groups of two diurnal primate species, Hylobates lar and Presbytis melalophos, were observed in the wild for 14 mo before and 12 mo after the onset of logging. Both species showed alterations in activity budgets following logging, spending more time resting and less time feeding and travelling. These changes may be attributable to the reduction in the availability of their preferred, more nutritious foods. Both H. lar and P. melalophos were territorial in primary forest in the study area, and there was remarkably little change in their home ranges following logging. Changes that were apparent were generally to conform to changes in habitat topography. The extent of range overlap between P. melalophos groups appeared to increase in older logged forest, however, as food resources changed from an even to a clumped distribution. The overall response of the studied primate community to selective logging appeared to be a reaction to reduced food availability and to fragmentation or other alterations of the habitat. An ability to adjust foraging strategies to cope with variation in habitat and food supply probably accounts for the continued survival of these primate populations in logged forest.