Investigaciones en ejecución / Research in progress:

Spider monkey conservation and reduced-impact logging: The potential co-dependence of spider monkeys (Ateles chamek) and timber tree species in a lowland rainforest, Bolivia, South America.

Researcher: Annika M. Felton
Institution: Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Australia
Research Site: La Chonta
Dates: August 2003 to December 2004

Photo by Annika Felton

In South America the timber industry is expanding and every year vast areas of tropical forest are being opened up for the first time by selective logging. Minimizing the effect of logging damage is therefore one of the primary requirements for achieving sustainable forest management. Reduced impact logging (RIL) is a form of timber extraction now being used commercially in Bolivia as well as in other tropical countries with high biodiversity. RIL is a collection of methods that combine planned low intensity logging with low impact silvicultural techniques, with the aim of maintaining biodiversity in managed forests. Although it is hoped that RIL retains significant amounts of forest biodiversity, these claims have not been tested. Thus, the true impacts on flora and fauna are unknown.

Photo by Kristen Evans

My PhD research, a significant part of which is funded by WCS Research Fellowship Program, is focusing on the co-dependence of the large-bodied, frugivorous spider monkeys (Ateles chamek) and timber tree species in a Bolivian RIL concession, and the role of RIL in minimising negative effects on the monkeys’ health and energy expenditure after logging. The central question I am trying to answer is how important the timber tree species are in the diet and energy budget of the spider monkeys and whether any recommendations can be made regarding future exploitation of tree species that are of disproportionate importance to them. Methods include habituation, all-day follows and continuous focal animal sampling, fruit collection and analysis, urinalysis, seed dispersal quantifications and phenological surveys. The study takes place in the La Chonta Forestry Concession (100,000 ha), certified by Smartwood.