Microhabitat preference among primates, which provides them with the niche they need to survive, often conditions primate diversity, abundance, and coexistence. Vegetation alteration and recovery have built heterogeneous forest landscapes that may influence primates’ microhabitat preferences. We compared the diversity and size of trees/shrubs and the presence of lianas in 132 sites where we captured the rufous mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus), with that of 240 sites where we did not capture this species, to investigate the aspects of microhabitat structure they might prefer. We then examined how this structural preference varies across a heterogeneous landscape of forests with different disturbance levels. Overall, microhabitats used by M. rufus differed significantly from unused ones in densities of small size, understory, and midstory plants. Microcebus rufus frequented microhabitats with significantly denser small- and medium-size (diameter at breast height [DBH] 2.5–10 cm) trees/shrubs without lianas in the primary forest, and small-size plants (DBH 2.5–4.9 cm) with one liana in other forest types. Compared to the microhabitats they used in the primary forest, the microhabitats in other forest types had lower densities of trees/shrubs with lianas. Additionally, the secondary forests and forest fragments also had significantly lower DBH. Although this variation in microhabitat use may represent an opportunity for M. rufus to live in disturbed habitats, it may expose them to additional threats, affecting their long-term survival. These findings emphasize the need to examine potential changes in microhabitat use among primates living in anthropogenic landscapes, which could help optimize long-term conservation and management of threatened primate species in heterogeneous landscapes.

灵长类动物的微栖息地偏好为它们提供了生存所需的生态位，通常会影响灵长类动物的多样性、丰富度和共存。植被的改变和恢复已经建立了可能影响灵长类动物微栖息地偏好的异质森林景观。我们比较了 132 个我们捕获红褐色鼠狐猴 ( Microcebus rufus )地点的树木/灌木的多样性和大小以及藤本植物的存在情况，以及我们没有捕获该物种的 240 个地点，以调查微生境结构的各个方面他们可能更喜欢。然后，我们研究了这种结构偏好如何在具有不同干扰水平的异质森林景观中变化。总体而言，M. rufus使用的微生境在小型、林下和中层植物的密度方面与未使用的有显着差异。Microcebus rufus经常出现在原始森林中没有藤本植物的中小型（胸高直径 [DBH] 2.5-10 厘米）乔木/灌木和小型植物（胸高 2.5-4.9 厘米）显着更密集的微生境其他森林类型的藤本植物。与他们在原始森林中使用的微生境相比，其他森林类型中的微生境具有较低的树木/灌木和藤本植物的密度。此外，次生林和森林碎片的胸径也显着降低。虽然微生境使用的这种变化可能代表M. rufus生活在受干扰的栖息地，可能会使它们面临更多威胁，影响它们的长期生存。这些发现强调需要检查生活在人为景观中的灵长类动物微栖息地使用的潜在变化，这有助于优化异质景观中受威胁灵长类动物物种的长期保护和管理。