Nutritional Differences between Two Orangutan Habitats: Implications for Population Density.

ABSTRACT: Bottom-up regulatory factors have been proposed to exert a strong influence on mammalian population density. Studies relating habitat quality to population density have typically made comparisons among distant species or communities without considering variation in food quality among localities. We compared dietary nutritional quality of two Bornean orangutan populations with differing population densities in peatland habitats, Tuanan and Sabangau, separated by 63 km. We hypothesized that because Tuanan is alluvial, the plant species included in the orangutan diet would be of higher nutritional quality compared to Sabangau, resulting in higher daily caloric intake in Tuanan. We also predicted that forest productivity would be greater in Tuanan compared to Sabangau. In support of these hypo

SUBMITTER: Vogel ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4605688 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature