Movement-related energy expenditure of black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) in fragmented habitats

• Grant number: 20/10617-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 10, 2021
• End date: October 09, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Laurence Marianne Vincianne Culot
• Grantee: Gabriela Cabral Rezende
• Supervisor: Luca Borger
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Swansea University, Wales
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/11962-9 - Habitat use, movement patterns and energy expenditure of black lion tamarins (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) in response to landscape fragmentation, BP.DR

Abstract

Movement-related energy expenditure reflects how animals fare in altered habitats. The endangered black lion tamarins (BLT), Leontopithecus chrysopygus, can have their movement affected by changes in forest structure due to fragmentation, being good candidates to study the relation between the forest characteristics and movement-related energy expenditure. In this context, Dynamic Body Acceleration (DBA) metrics, obtained from animal-borne accelerometers, are a powerful proxy for assessing energy expenditure. Here, we will 1) validate the DBA method in captive BLTs by combining it with the doubly-labelled water method; 2) compare the energy expenditure related to movement and other behaviours of BLTs in three forested areas with different sizes and structures where wild BLT groups will be monitored using GPS and accelerometer devices. I will segment the movement data from accelerometers in different phases of behaviour that, combined with the GPS data, will derive maps of behaviour allocation in space. I will quantify behaviour-specific energy expenditure and compare it between forest patches, and run behaviour-specific resource selection analyses, using Resource Selection Function methods. Results will help in understanding how the structural configuration of the habitat interferes in the energy amount dispensed for survival-related activities and allow us to propose scientifically-sound guidelines for managing their habitat, in order to lower the energetic cost of movement in forest patches. (AU)