Primate Responses to Environmental Change

by H.O. Box (Editor)

Overview

This book concerns the various ways that primates respond to environmental change. By studying these patterns of responsiveness we not only gain useful knowledge about the structural, physiological and behavioural propensities of different species, but also acquire important information relating to issues of contemporary concern, such as conservation and the management of animals in the wild as well as in various forms of captivity. For example, there is growing concern among biologists and conser­ vationists about the influence of habitat destruction, such as logging, on the fitness and survival of wild primates. There is also increased awareness of the need to improve the care of primates in zoos and laboratories, including the enrichment of captive environments. Further, because an increasing number of primate species are becoming endangered, knowledge of their responsiveness to new environments is an essential requirement for effective breeding programmes in captivity, and for the translocation and rehabilitation of species in the wild. In theory, studies of many closely related species are required in order to consider relevant evolutionary processes, as well as to develop functional hypotheses about the adaptive significance of various biological propensities and their interrelationships in the short and longer terms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789401053778
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	10/23/2012
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1991
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

One General Perspectives.- 1 Species differences in tolerance to environmental change.- 2 Adaptations to environmental change: an evolutionary perspective.- 3 Responsiveness to environmental change: interrelationships among parameters.- 4 The social control of fertility.- 5 Individual variation in responsiveness to environmental change.- Two Environmental Change in Nature.- 6 Forest disturbance and Amazonian primates.- 7 Provisioning of Barbary macaques on the Rock of Gibraltar.- 8 Nonhuman primates as pests.- 9 Rehabilitation of captive chimpanzees.- 10 Responses of wild chimpanzees and gorillas to the arrival of primatologists: behaviour observed during habituation.- 11 Primate conservation and wildlife management.- Three: Environmental Change in Captivity.- 12 Stimulation of natural patterns of behaviour: studies with golden lion tamarins and gorillas.- 13 Environmental challenges in groups of capuchins.- 14 Environmental enrichment for single housed common marmosets.- 15 Responses to novel social stimuli in callitrichid monkeys: a comparative perspective.- 16 Reproductive consequences of changing social status in female common marmosets.- 17 Behavioural and physiological indices of social relationships: comparative studies of New World monkeys.- 18 Stress and distress in response to change.- 19 Criteria for the provision of captive environments.- Postscript.- References.

Editorial Reviews

...I enjoyed reading this book which provides a wealth of information... ATLA; Dr Hilary Box has skilfully edited the contributions of 24 authors from very diverse disciplines to produce a valuable and original book. - Primate Eye; The scope of this book is to approach from different perspectives the various ways in which primates respond to change .... Hilary Box has done an excellent job in filling this scope with life - Primate Report

From the Publisher