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The Role of Landscape Structure in Primate Crop Feeding: Insights from Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) in Northern India

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Abstract

Human-modified landscapes play an important role in supporting the survival of primate populations, but they may also facilitate human–primate interactions, possibly leading to negative outcomes. We conducted a scalar investigation of the role of landscape structure in shaping the intensity of crop feeding by a generalist primate species, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) in northern India. At the species level, we used behavioral sampling techniques to assess habitat selection by two groups of rhesus macaques. At the landscape level, we used GIS-based analyses to quantify landscape structure in terms of class-level and patch-level metrics and correlated it with macaque crop feeding intensities. We found that, on average, both study groups spent only 15% of their total feeding time on cultivars. However, they spent a large proportion of their feeding (BH: 75% and CH: 36%) and ranging (BH: 72% and CH: 39%) time in agroecosystem habitats. Landscape level analysis showed that crop feeding intensity was not related to total area under cultivation. Instead, macaque crop feeding intensity was positively correlated to the arrangement of deciduous forest patches beside cultivated area patches. Our findings call for careful appraisal of landscape management practices as a potential mitigation strategy for primate crop-depredation in such human-modified landscapes.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Vijay Raput and Jagdish Chand for their assistance in fieldwork. We are also extremely thankful for the support provided by all the villagers in our study area during the period of field data collection. SA was supported by an institutional fellowship from National Institute of Advanced Studies during the period of this study.

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  1. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Shaurabh Anand & Sindhu Radhakrishna

  2. Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy & Learning, Pondicherry, India

    Srinivas Vaidyanathan

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  1. Shaurabh Anand
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  2. Srinivas Vaidyanathan
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  3. Sindhu Radhakrishna
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SA and SR conceived the study and developed methodology. SA conducted field work and performed statistical analyses. SV collaborated in data analysis. SA and SR wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shaurabh Anand.

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Anand, S., Vaidyanathan, S. & Radhakrishna, S. The Role of Landscape Structure in Primate Crop Feeding: Insights from Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) in Northern India. Int J Primatol 42, 764–780 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00238-y

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