Date of Completion

2017

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Environmental Sciences

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Nicholas Gotelli

Keywords

Madagascar, primates, habitat use, conservation

Abstract

Understanding the interaction between frugivores and their habitat is necessary for both primate and forest preservation. In Madagascar, Varecia variegata, are the most highly frugivorous lemur in the Lemuridae family This project examined the habitat use of a troop of V. variegata (the black and white ruffed lemur) in Maromizaha, a newly protected area just outside of the village, Anevoka, in Madagascar. The hypothesis tested is that the size, location, flowering status, and species identity of trees selected by lemurs for particular activities (feeding, resting, sleeping) differ from the distribution of trees in the forest as a whole. There is evidence that V. variegata selected trees with significantly different CBH (F1,733=24.8, p= 7.956e-07), height (F1,733=20.64, p= 6.488e-06), and phenology compared to the general habitat observed in the identified territory.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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