Reassessing the Ranging Behavior of Black-And-White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia variegata) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

<p>This study investigates black-and-white ruffed lemur (<em>Varecia variegata</em>) space use and movement using autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE), a new methodology available from the continuous-time movement model (ctmm) package in R. Data were collected from 24 adults and subadults (10 males, 11 females, 3 subadult males) living in two adjacent <em>V. variegata </em>communities at Mangevo bush camp in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar (RNP) for 11 months (February – December 2008) to estimate annual and seasonal patterns of individual and community-level range use. Autocorrelated kernel density estimates generated in this study are compared to earlier kernel density estimates from Baden et al. (2021) to determine whether and to what extent the same patterns emerge. Patterns of annual and seasonal variation are also compared across <em>i</em>) age-sex class, <em>ii</em>) reproductive seasonality, <em>iii</em>) site topography and <em>iv</em>) resource availability and distribution.</p> <p>Results reveal that both annual and seasonal home range size and spatial use varied between males and females, as well as within subgroups. Females exhibited larger annual home ranges than males, though not significantly so, and ranging behaviors varied by reproductive season. The topography of Mangevo appears to be a significant driver of range use, as mountain ridges, community boundaries (i.e., territorial space use), and neighborhoods are all structured around the distribution of food resources which are situated primarily at lower elevations between ridgelines throughout the ruffed lemur community.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Oliveras, Jelisa R

Contributors dc:contributor

• Andrea L. Baden
• Amy Berkov
• Osceola Whitney

• Home range
• animal movement ecology
• ArcGIS
• ctmm
• 3D terrian
• Geographic Information Sciences
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Spatial Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/917

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-1978