Jones CB (2005) An exploratory analysis of developmental plasticity in Costa Rican mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata palliata Gray). In A. Estrada, PA Garber, MSM Pavelka, LeA Luecke (eds.), New perspectives in the study of Mesoamerican primates: distribution, ecology, behavior, and conservation. Springer, New York.
Summary: The topic of developmental plasticity is fundamentally related to life-history evolution (West-Eberhard 2003), in particular, patterns of survival and reproduction. Jones (1997b) employed matrix analysis (see Alberts & Altmann 2003) of Scott's census data with age structure for mantled howlers at Hacienda La Pacifica to estimate life-history parameters including survivorship, fecundity, and mortality. The suite of life-history traits described by this author (e.g., low survivorship in more than one age class, iteroparity, relatively small reproductive effort) is consistent with the view that mantled howlers, and, possibly other members of the genus, express tactics and strategies minimizing costs to fecundity. Since changes in CC [Chest Circumference] and/or CC:P [Chest Circumference : Pubis Width] are irreversible morphological changes, it is proposed that female mantled howlers are capable of responding to local conditions with mechanisms of developmental plasticity, a within-individual strategy compatible with the life-history strategy of mantled howlers (Meyers & Bull 2002; Table 1; see Ravosa et al. 1993). Further research is required to test alternate hypotheses for the present results (e.g., natural selection [C.P. Groves, pers. comm.; F. Nihout, pers. comm.]) and to examine the possibility that there is a threshold of response to locally stressful conditions in irrigation habitat exhibited by female howlers and manifested as developmental plasticity in CC and CC:P.
The present report is consistent with the program of Stearns et al. (2003: 311) expressed in the following statement: "Alternative explanations for characteristic male and female growth schedules, and the consequences of the patterns seen in each species...all call for investigation across the spectrum of primate social systems." The study of the functional ecology, including physiological ecology and developmental plasticity, of primates is in its early stages (Milton 1998; also see Strier 1992; Ravosa et al. 1993; Crockett 1998; Reader & Laland 2003: 20-21; Jones 2005), investigations which are likely to occupy laboratory and field investigators for many years. This body of research will have important implications on primate and other mammalian development, energetics, life history evolution, and conservation, as it involves an understanding of growth, survival, and reproduction relative to environmental regimes.
References
Alberts SC, Altmann J (2003) Matrix models for primate life history analysis. In PM Kappeler, ME Pereira (eds.), Primate life histories and socioecology. University of Chicago Press, pp 66-102.
Crockett CM (1998) Conservation biology of the genus Alouatta. Int. J. Primatol. 19: 549-578.
Jones CB (2005) Behavioral flexibility in primates: causes and consequences. Springer, New York.
Meyers LA, Bull JJ (2002) Fighting change with change: adaptive variation in an uncertain world. Trends Ecol Evol 17: 551-557.
Milton K (1998) Physiological ecology of howlers (Alouatta): energetic and digestic considerations and comparison with the Colobinae. Int J Primatol 19: 513-548.
Ravosa MJ, Meyers DM, Glander KE (1993) Relative growth of the limbs and trunk in sifakas: heterochronic, ecological, and functional considerations. Am J Phys Anthropol 92: 499-520.
Reader SM, Laland KN (2003) Animal innovation: an introduction. In SA Reader and KN Laland (eds.), Animal innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 3-35.
Stearns SC, Pereira ME, Kappeler PM (2003) Primate life histories and future research. In PM Kappeler, ME Pereira (eds.), Primate life histories and socioecology. University of Chicago Press, pp 301-312.
Strier KB (1992) Ateline adaptations: behavioral strategies and ecological constraints. Am J Phys Anthropol 88: 515-524.
Summary: The topic of developmental plasticity is fundamentally related to life-history evolution (West-Eberhard 2003), in particular, patterns of survival and reproduction. Jones (1997b) employed matrix analysis (see Alberts & Altmann 2003) of Scott's census data with age structure for mantled howlers at Hacienda La Pacifica to estimate life-history parameters including survivorship, fecundity, and mortality. The suite of life-history traits described by this author (e.g., low survivorship in more than one age class, iteroparity, relatively small reproductive effort) is consistent with the view that mantled howlers, and, possibly other members of the genus, express tactics and strategies minimizing costs to fecundity. Since changes in CC [Chest Circumference] and/or CC:P [Chest Circumference : Pubis Width] are irreversible morphological changes, it is proposed that female mantled howlers are capable of responding to local conditions with mechanisms of developmental plasticity, a within-individual strategy compatible with the life-history strategy of mantled howlers (Meyers & Bull 2002; Table 1; see Ravosa et al. 1993). Further research is required to test alternate hypotheses for the present results (e.g., natural selection [C.P. Groves, pers. comm.; F. Nihout, pers. comm.]) and to examine the possibility that there is a threshold of response to locally stressful conditions in irrigation habitat exhibited by female howlers and manifested as developmental plasticity in CC and CC:P.
The present report is consistent with the program of Stearns et al. (2003: 311) expressed in the following statement: "Alternative explanations for characteristic male and female growth schedules, and the consequences of the patterns seen in each species...all call for investigation across the spectrum of primate social systems." The study of the functional ecology, including physiological ecology and developmental plasticity, of primates is in its early stages (Milton 1998; also see Strier 1992; Ravosa et al. 1993; Crockett 1998; Reader & Laland 2003: 20-21; Jones 2005), investigations which are likely to occupy laboratory and field investigators for many years. This body of research will have important implications on primate and other mammalian development, energetics, life history evolution, and conservation, as it involves an understanding of growth, survival, and reproduction relative to environmental regimes.
References
Alberts SC, Altmann J (2003) Matrix models for primate life history analysis. In PM Kappeler, ME Pereira (eds.), Primate life histories and socioecology. University of Chicago Press, pp 66-102.
Crockett CM (1998) Conservation biology of the genus Alouatta. Int. J. Primatol. 19: 549-578.
Jones CB (2005) Behavioral flexibility in primates: causes and consequences. Springer, New York.
Meyers LA, Bull JJ (2002) Fighting change with change: adaptive variation in an uncertain world. Trends Ecol Evol 17: 551-557.
Milton K (1998) Physiological ecology of howlers (Alouatta): energetic and digestic considerations and comparison with the Colobinae. Int J Primatol 19: 513-548.
Ravosa MJ, Meyers DM, Glander KE (1993) Relative growth of the limbs and trunk in sifakas: heterochronic, ecological, and functional considerations. Am J Phys Anthropol 92: 499-520.
Reader SM, Laland KN (2003) Animal innovation: an introduction. In SA Reader and KN Laland (eds.), Animal innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 3-35.
Stearns SC, Pereira ME, Kappeler PM (2003) Primate life histories and future research. In PM Kappeler, ME Pereira (eds.), Primate life histories and socioecology. University of Chicago Press, pp 301-312.
Strier KB (1992) Ateline adaptations: behavioral strategies and ecological constraints. Am J Phys Anthropol 88: 515-524.