Large-scale anthropogenic changes to the environment are making it vital to investigate habitat use so that we can better understand species’ basic ecological needs in order to create successful conservation plans. Some species are very flexible in their habitat requirements. One such species may be Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii, monkeys that occupy montane and tropical lowland forest. In the mountains of southwestern Rwanda, this species spends a great deal of time on the ground and feeds mainly on mature leaves and lichens, but the habitat use of lower altitude populations is unknown. We examined the fine-scale habitat use of C. a. ruwenzorii at Nabugabo, Uganda (1136 m altitude), where they feed primarily on young leaves and fruits. We used data collected over 9 mo (94 days between July 2017 and April 2018) on 117–131 colobus in 12 core units in a multilevel society. We found that colobus individuals were rarely on the ground, and resting and social behavior occurred at higher heights and in larger trees than feeding and moving. Individual height in the canopy followed a daily pattern (higher at the start and end, with a decrease in the middle of the day) and colobus were at lower heights when group size was greater because of core unit fusion. Finally, we found that tree species were generally used relative to their availability in the forest and their value as food species. Given greater predation risk in smaller groups and lower in the canopy at this site, our results suggest that perceived risk has an important effect on microhabitat use in C. a. ruwenzorii at lower altitude. Our results demonstrate the ecological flexibility of this primate species, which bodes well for their continued conservation.

中文翻译：

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乌干达纳布加博的安哥拉疣猴 (Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii) 的微生境使用证明了种内变异

环境的大规模人为变化使得调查栖息地使用变得至关重要，以便我们可以更好地了解物种的基本生态需求，从而制定成功的保护计划。有些物种的栖息地要求非常灵活。一种这样的物种可能是 Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii，一种占据山地和热带低地森林的猴子。在卢旺达西南部的山区，该物种在地面上花费大量时间，主要以成熟的树叶和地衣为食，但低海拔种群的栖息地利用尚不清楚。我们检查了 C. a. 的精细栖息地利用。ruwenzorii 在乌干达纳布加博（海拔 1136 米），主要以嫩叶和果实为食。我们使用了 9 个月（2017 年 7 月至 2018 年 4 月之间的 94 天）在多层次社会中 12 个核心单位的 117-131 疣猴上收集的数据。我们发现疣猴个体很少在地面上，休息和社交行为发生在更高的高度和更大的树上，而不是进食和移动。树冠中的个体高度遵循每日模式（在开始和结束时较高，在一天中间减少），当由于核心单元融合而群体规模较大时，疣猴处于较低的高度。最后，我们发现树种的使用通常与它们在森林中的可用性及其作为食物种类的价值有关。鉴于较小群体中更大的捕食风险和该地点的冠层较低，我们的结果表明感知风险对 C. a. 中的微生境使用有重要影响。ruwenzorii 在低海拔地区。我们的结果证明了这种灵长类动物的生态灵活性，这预示着它们的持续保护。