The demography of a resource specialist in the tropics: Cecropia trees and the fitness of three-toed sloths.

ABSTRACT: Resource specialists persist in a narrow range of resources. Consequently, the abundance of key resources should drive vital rates, individual fitness, and population viability. While Neotropical forests feature both high levels of biodiversity and numbers of specialist species, no studies have directly evaluated how the variation of key resources affects the fitness of a tropical specialist. Here, we quantified the effect of key tree species density and forest cover on the fitness of three-toed sloths ( Bradypus variegatus), an arboreal folivore strongly associated with Cecropia trees in Costa Rica, using a multi-year demographic, genetic, and space-use dataset. We found that the density of Cecropia trees was strongly and positively related to both adult survival and reproductive output.

SUBMITTER: Garces-Restrepo MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6367172 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature