Comparative home range size and habitat selection in provisioned and non-provisioned long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Baluran National Park, East Java, Indonesia

Abstract

The effect of food provisioning on ranging patterns of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in non-anthropogenic areas is largely unknown, as most published studies have focused on urban macaques. In this study, we quantified habitat selection, daily path length and home range size in long-tailed macaques in Baluran National Park, East Java, Indonesia, comparing a non-provisioned to a provisioned group. To track the groups, we deployed six GPS-collars on females in both groups, of which only two collected data. Home range size (90% Auto-correlated Kernel Density Estimate) was 23 times smaller for the provisioned group (10.62 ha) than the non-provisioned group (249.90 ha). Home range size and area changed from dry to wet season for the non-provisioned group. Provisioned group home range size correlated negatively with number of visitors in the national park. Daily path length was significantly higher for the non-provisioned group. The provisioned group preferred settlements, where most of the provisioning occurred, and avoided areas with invasive acacia (Acacia nilotica). The non-provisioned group also avoided invasive acacia, preferred secondary forest in the dry season and restored savannah in the wet season. Food provisioning can affect macaque spatial ecology, by shaping daily travel length and home range size, and changing patterns of habitat selection. Even tourism in a managed national park, where provisioning is strictly prohibited although not always enforced, has significant consequences for animal behaviour and their natural ecosystems.

Elevated Calf Mortality and Long-Term Responses of Wild Bottlenose Dolphins to Extreme Climate Events: Impacts of Foraging Specialization and Provisioning

“…Additionally, the nearshore waters are the hunting grounds for the provisioned dolphins, placing them in close proximity to people outside of the morning provisioning hours. It is clear that provisioning causes a reduced home range, consistent with a large body of research (Orams, 2002;Thomson et al, 2017;Hansen et al, 2020). With depleted seagrass habitat and a small range, even with the extra fish provisioned dolphins receive, they were severely impacted by the MHW.…”

The influence of provisioning on animal‐mediated seed dispersal

“…Resource availability is a chief determinant of animal ranging patterns (Clutton‐Brock and Harvey 1977) and, consequently, provisioning often reduces wildlife movements by providing food resources that are predictable in space and time (Gilbert et al 2007). Less movement results in both shorter daily path lengths, smaller home ranges (Jerina 2012, Hansen et al 2020) and, therefore, decreased seed dispersal distances. This was reported for gut‐passed seeds dispersed by provisioned weka Gallirallus australis in New Zealand (Carpenter et al 2019; Fig.…”

Population‐level inference for home‐range areas

“…At the individual level, space‐use requirements are typically described by an animal’s home range (Burt, 1943), which is formalized by the probability distribution of the animal’s locations (Worton, 1995). Population‐level inference on space‐use parameters is also important—both for quantifying the area requirements of a typical organism and for quantifying the effect of covariates, such as species or taxa (Habel et al, 2019; Matley et al, 2019; Poessel et al, 2020; Rehm et al, 2018), sex (D’haen et al, 2019; Desbiez et al, 2019; Morato et al, 2016; Naveda‐Rodríguez et al, 2018), body size (Bašić et al, 2019; Desbiez et al, 2019; Naveda‐Rodríguez et al, 2018), age (Averill‐Murray et al, 2020; Goldenberg et al, 2018; Kays et al, 2020; Mirski et al, 2020), movement characteristics (Bowman et al, 2002; Desbiez et al, 2019; Swihart et al, 1988), conspecific density (Erlinge et al, 1990; Massei et al, 1997; Trewhella et al, 1988), resource density (Herfindal et al, 2005; Loveridge et al, 2009; Massei et al, 1997), habitat or biome (McBride Jr & Thompson, 2019; Morato et al, 2016; Paolini et al, 2019; Tonra et al, 2019), human influences (Hansen et al, 2020; McBride Jr & Thompson, 2019; Rutt et al, 2020; Ullmann et al, 2020), weather (Kay et al, 2017; Matley et al, 2019; Mirski et al, 2020) and season or time (Bašić et al, 2019; Goldenberg et al, 2018; Matley et al, 2019; Roffler & Gregovich, 2018). Both the mean response and population variation have been studied as important regressors for biological inference (Seigle‐Ferrand et al, 2021).…”