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1 Distribution of Mantled Howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Bella Vista and Limones, Chiriquí, Panama Emma Sutherland and Tara Jagadeesh Host information: Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí Address: Host contact: Dr. Ariel Rodríguez-Vargas Phone: (507) 730 - 5300 Email: [email protected] April 2017 Hours spent in the field: 104 hours Hours spent working in Panama: 50 hours Hours spent traveling: 120 hours Total: 270 hours Table of Contents

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Page 1: Distribution of Mantled Howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata ... · The Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata) is part of the New World monkey family Atelidae and is one of six species

1

Distribution of Mantled Howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in

Bella Vista and Limones, Chiriquí, Panama

Emma Sutherland and Tara Jagadeesh

Host

information:

Universidad

Autónoma de

Chiriquí

Address:

Host contact: Dr. Ariel Rodríguez-Vargas

Phone: (507) 730 - 5300

Email: [email protected]

April 2017

Hours spent in the field: 104 hours

Hours spent working in Panama: 50 hours

Hours spent traveling: 120 hours

Total: 270 hours

Table of Contents

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I. Introduction 3

Background 3

Area of study 4

II. Methods 5

Data collection 7

Data analysis 9

III. Results and discussion 6

Biological data 10

1. Distributions and density 10

2. Demography 12

3. Behavior 13

Social data 14

1. Perceived threats 14

2. General observations 15

3. Future conservation ventures 16

IV. Conclusion 20

V. Works Cited 23

VI. Figures and tables 26

VII. Appendices 33

Introduction

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Background

The Mantled Howler Monkey (Alouatta palliata) is part of the New World monkey

family Atelidae and is one of six species of monkeys found in Panama. Its distribution ranges

from eastern Mexico to the Pacific coasts of Colombia and Ecuador (Mann 2005). Howler

monkeys are an arboreal, diurnal species. Of all of the Howler monkey species, A. palliata

consistently lives in the largest groups, with ≥10 individuals (Chapman and Balcomb 1998).

They are frugivores, usually eating young leaves but preferring mature fruits when they are

available (Estrada 1984). They are found in a wide range of habitats but prefer evergreen and

semi-evergreen forest due to consistent food production throughout the year (Chapman &

Balcomb 1997). Although they prefer these forests, the most important indicator for selection of

habitat by howlers is density of tree cover (Stoner 1996). This is important in the context of

deforestation, which increasingly poses a threat to species worldwide. However, howlers have

been shown to adapt to changing environments (Clarke et al. 2001), and can alter their diet

depending on food availability in the area (Christóbal-Azkarate & Arroyo-Rodríguez 2007). This

flexibility allows howler monkeys to more readily persist in regions affected by anthropogenic

disturbance in comparison to other, more sensitive species.

Despite their flexibility in habitat selection, these monkeys face a variety of threats.

Deforestation is occurring in Panama at a rate of 0.71% (27,050 hectares) per year, causing

habitat loss and fragmentation of the remaining habitat (“Panama Forest Information and Data”).

Fragmentation exacerbates the effects of habitat loss not only by reducing habitat area but also

by increasing landscape patchiness, decreasing patch size, and increasing patch isolation (Fahrig

2003). Compared to continuous forest, these forest patches have a greater degree of edge effects

which expose organisms within a patch to the novel conditions of the surrounding environment

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(Murcia 1995). This can have negative effects on the forest community by introducing invasive

species and increasing exposure to pollution and predators (Robinson et al. 1995). In these

fragmented landscapes, decreases in habitat area, connectivity between fragments, and canopy

heights have led to declines in howler monkey abundances (Anzures-Dadda & Manson 2006).

Fragmentation also alters habitat quality; forests that are fragmented lack large trees and thus

have less area of top food resources in comparison to continuous forests (Arroyo-Rodríguez and

Mandujano 2006). Decreased patch sizes are associated with lower population size of howler

monkeys, likely due to lower food availability (Arroyo-Rodríguez & Dias 2010). In a population

viability analysis of A. palliata in Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, Mandujano and Escobedo-Morales

(2008) concluded that in fragments smaller than 15 ha there is a 60% chance of extinction.

Highly fragmented landscapes with little connectivity and smaller patches still therefore pose a

threat to howler monkeys. Other documented threats to howler monkeys include hunting by

humans (Peres 1997), hunting by domestic dogs (Raguet-Schofield 2008; De Oliveira et al.

2008), and capture for the pet trade (Duarte-Quiroga & Estrada 2003).

Area of Study

The Burica peninsula is located in Chiriquí, Panama and is shared by both Panama and

Costa Rica. Within this peninsula, we focused our study on two areas: the towns of Bella Vista

and Limones. The majority of our field time was spent in Bella Vista, beginning at the town

center and extending to the tip of the peninsula. The rest of our study was conducted around the

town of Limones (Figure 1, Figure 2). The local economies of both Bella Vista and Limones rely

heavily on agriculture and to a smaller extent, tourism. As a consequence, much of the land has

been deforested in favor of pasture and cropland. There are a few features that distinguish the

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two towns and thus allow for an interesting comparison. Bella Vista is foremost dominated by

cow pasture, with some small-scale personal crops. Along the coast, however, there are 3

ecotourism projects. These projects have contributed to the protection and reforestation of the

vegetation along the coast. Limones, on the other hand, has much less cow pasture but instead

has a palm oil plantation that was established in the last 5-6 years. Interestingly, much of

Limones is still surrounded by fragments of forest larger than those of Bella Vista. The human

population of the entire corregimiento of Limones was 948 in the year 2000 and 1,040 in 2010,

indicating a population growth of 9% (“Población de la Republica”).

The landscapes of Bella Vista and Limones reflect larger global trends in land use

changes. In developing countries, livestock production is the fastest growing agricultural

subsector, accounting for 33% of agricultural GDP (Steinfeld et al. 2006). This increase is in

response to both global and local demands for meat and dairy products, which have increased

with urbanization, population growth, and income (Delgado 2005). The greater demand for

livestock consequently drives the conversion of forests into pasture, which is further exacerbated

by the increased need for cropland for animal feed. The expansion of pasture/cropland and a

correlating decrease in forest cover of countries in the Neotropics that encompass primate ranges

was noted by Kowalewski et al. (2015) (Figure 3A). Along with cattle production, there have

also been trends of increasing soybean and oil palm production in these countries (Figure 3B).

With growing demands for alternative energy sources, biofuels are a popular option. Oil palm is

an attractive biofuel feedstock given its low cost of production and its high yields (Carter et al.

2007). It is also increasingly used for vegetable oils in replacement of oils with high animal and

trans fat contents. Oil palm plantations are often cultivated as commercial monocultures which

use herbicides and pesticides, thereby contributing to further biodiversity loss.

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With these changes in land use present in the Burica peninsula, it is necessary to assess

the abundances of Howler monkeys and their ability to survive in areas with a low percentage of

forest cover and high fragmentation. Punta Burica is currently home to three species of monkeys:

Mantled Howler (Alouatta palliata), Central American Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri oerstedii), and

White-headed Capuchin (Cebus capucinus). A fourth species, Geoffrey’s Spider Monkey (Ateles

geoffroyi), once inhabited the area but disappeared sometime in the last 50 years. Our subject

species, A. palliata, is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List of threatened species

(Cuarón et al. 2008). Although they are considered one of the more abundant primate species in

Panama, with increased human activity and deforestation on the peninsula it is necessary to

assess their conservation status in the area. The conservation status of the Mantled Howler

monkey was last assessed in 2008, and there has never been a comprehensive population study of

the species on the Burica peninsula. In order to analyze the impacts of land use changes on A.

palliata, a point of reference needs to first be established. Despite their status as Least Concern,

we therefore believe it is important to study A. palliata.

Our research contributes to a greater assessment of the conservation status of both the

Mantled Howler monkey and the Central American Squirrel Monkey on the entire Burica

peninsula, to be conducted by our supervisor, Dr. Ariel Rodríguez-Vargas, a researcher at the

Universidad Autonoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI) specializing in primate ecology and

conservation. Through our study, we sought to answer two questions:

1. What is the geographical distribution, demography, and behaviour of A. palliata in Bella

Vista and Limones?

2. What are the perceptions of the local communities towards monkeys and the conflicts

between the two?

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Methods

Data collection

Research was conducted in the areas surrounding the villages of Bella Vista and

Limones, in the Barú district of the Chiriquí province. For each study area, interviews and direct

observation were conducted. We conducted research in Bella Vista in four stages between early

January and late February 2017. We began by conducting semi-structured interviews with

residents in the village and in the area south of the town leading to the tip of the peninsula.

Informants were first asked whether they had sighted monkeys in the past year. With the help of

pictures, we asked them to specify which of the three species found in the region they had seen.

In the case of howler monkeys, we asked them to describe the location, number of individuals,

and gender makeup of the groups they had sighted. They were also asked to report any locations

where others had told them that howler monkeys could be found. Finally, we asked questions

about their perception of the threats facing monkeys in the area, and their general opinion of

monkeys. The interview questions can be found in Appendix 1. In total, 15 interviews were

conducted in the Bella Vista area.

During each period of fieldwork, we used the information from interviews to establish the

locations which had a high likelihood of containing monkeys. We began by verifying each

location where a howler monkey group had been reported. Once we had surveyed these

locations, we then surveyed along the gallery forest. These wooded areas alongside streams

tended to be a good environment to find howler monkeys, which we were informed typically

avoid open areas such as pastures and beaches. During the morning (7:00-11AM) and the

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evening (3:00-7:00PM), we slowly walked through these areas and listened for monkey howls

and barks. We also watched and listened for disturbances in the trees caused by howler monkey

movement. We used these indirect observations to help us locate and directly observe howler

monkeys. Once we made an encounter we recorded the number, age class (adult, juvenile, or

baby), and sex of the monkeys in the group. We then recorded the date, time, and GPS location

of the observation. We also characterized the behavior of the group according to four behavior

types (Table 1). Finally, we recorded information about the group’s habitat, such as forest type.

The full set of observation criteria can be found in Appendix 2. In total we recorded 21

encounters with howler monkeys in the Bella Vista study area.

We conducted research in Limones during one weekend in mid-March using the same

methodology. During this time, we obtained five interviews and three direct observations of

howler monkeys. The rest of the data points for Limones were recorded by our supervisor, Ariel

Rodríguez-Vargas, on separate occasions.

The data we collected from our interviews was then used to inform a presentation to the

community appropriate to its social context. This presentation took place April 19th, 2017. The

first goal of the presentation was to present our quantitative results regarding howler monkey

distributions, demography, and behavior and to explain what we had been doing in the

community over the duration of the study. The second goal was more educative. In the morning,

we held a presentation for the students at Bella Vista elementary school, introducing the concepts

of conservation and of habitat loss to 22 students aged 5-11. With ideas from the students, we

drew a concept map of the ways in which they can protect monkeys in their own community. In

the later presentation for all members of the community, we also spoke about the importance of

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monkeys in the ecosystem, and the ways in which protecting monkeys can positively impact

humans as well.

This research was conducted according to the standards of McGill University and the Tri-

Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2). The

Course on Research Ethics (CORE) certification was obtained by members of the research team

(see Appendix 3).

Data analysis

In order to produce a visual representation of howler monkey sightings, we used ArcMap

version 10.3.1. The area around Bella Vista was shown using the aerial satellite image available

from ESRI, which was used as a basemap. We input the GPS points for each sighting and scaled

the label according to the total number of individuals in the group.

Using these maps, we calculated the area of the corresponding forested area. We chose to

omit non-forested areas (such as pastures, beaches and residential areas) since these are not

suitable habitat for howler monkeys. The area of forest cover was measured by drawing

polygons instead of using a forest cover map. Most raster maps of forest cover found online

provided exact values for the forested area, but lacked detail for the Burica peninsula due to

limited resolution. As a result, many did not include the gallery forest around Bella Vista.

Analyzing the satellite image and tracing the forested areas ourselves allowed us to achieve a

closer representation of the forested areas being utilized by howler monkeys. The surveyed area

around Bella Vista measured to be 7.74 km2. Consequently, the forested areas identified for the

purposes of calculating density occupy only 30% of the study area. This signifies that one-third

of the region around Bella Vista currently has the possibility of supporting howler monkey

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populations. For each stream, the number of males, females, juveniles, and babies was totaled.

Density was then calculated by dividing the number of individuals by the area of the forest

cover.

To produce the map for Limones, we used the three points which we collected during the

two days we spent in Bella Vista and integrated a dataset gathered by our internship adviser, Dr.

Ariel Rodríguez-Vargas. Due to our limited data points, we did not attempt to analyze this map

and present it only for the use of future studies.

Results and Discussion

Biological data

Geographical distribution

The map of Bella Vista clearly illustrates the fragmentation of the forest around Bella

Vista, as well as the howler monkey’s dependence on the forested areas (Figure 4). The overall

density of howler monkeys in the total forested area is 63 individuals/km2, and the density for the

entire region including non-forested area is 9 individuals/km2.

Figure 5 illustrates the forested area in and around Bella Vista in relation to the closest

stream. The density of each area of these patches of forest is indicated. For the total area between

Quebrada del Medio and the tip of the peninsula, including forested and non-forested area, the

population density was 19 individuals per km2. A high variance in density can be observed

between the different streams. While Quebrada Resbalosa is connected to a relatively large area

of continuous forest as well as two private reserves (Tigre Salvaje and Mono Feliz), it has one of

the lowest population densities (28 individuals/ km2). It is probable that the groups counted in the

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area surrounding Quebrada Burica, which had a density of 218 individuals/ km2, benefit from

food availability and protected forest at Mono Feliz.

The population density of A. palliata can be affected by a variety of factors. A literature

review by Chapman et al. 1998 analyzes over 80 population studies of howler monkey

populations in order to understand the effect of habitat productivity on population characteristics.

The high variability in population densities suggested that recent events such as habitat

alteration, hunting, food tree crop failure, and disease had a high impact on the groups (Chapman

& Balcomb 1997). Especially relevant is a long-term study on Barro Colorado Island, which

illustrates the high variability of a single population over time, from an estimated 1500

individuals to less than 900 (Milton et al 1996). In cases where several groups were studied

within the same area, increased levels of protection and food availability favored higher

population density, however, long-term studies should be favored in order to understand the

dynamics of howler monkey populations (Chapman & Balcomb 1997). Given the proximity to

human populations, recent deforestation in the area, and the fragmentation of the habitat, it is

likely that recent events in the history of the population have had an impact on population

density. Without a detailed understanding of these events, it is difficult to establish their impact

on individual groups in the study area. A long-term study comparing population density across

time could yield a better understanding of the population dynamics of A. palliata in Bella Vista.

The data collected in Limones yielded a preliminary exploration of the howler groups in

the area. While further study is required to verify and quantify the total number of groups in the

region, a map was produced to illustrate the information available thus far (Figure 6). Although

these points have not been analyzed to interpret the possible reoccurrence of troops, this

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information can be used for future research. Table 4 summarizes the points which were gathered

in the region, in the case where the groups could be verified and counted.

Behavior

Our results showed that out of the 19 encounters we had with A. palliata and recorded

behavior, 53% occurred while howler groups were resting, 21% while some members of the

group were resting and others were eating, 16% while the entire group was eating, and only 10%

while the entire group was traveling (Figure 7). The breakdown of behavior by time of day was

largely variable, but we did see a few trends. We found that the howlers we encountered mostly

spent the morning resting and traveling, rested during midday, and spent the evening resting and

eating (Table 2). The only time we observed howler groups traveling was during the morning,

and a majority of eating encounters took place during the evening.

Our behavior results suggest that A. palliata spends a majority of the time resting,

followed by eating, and finally spends a short amount of time traveling. This is consistent with

other studies that show howler monkeys to be a relatively inactive species, likely due to their

low-calorie diet (Milton 1980). A review of the literature surrounding the diet of Alouatta

conducted by Kowalewski et al. (2015) found that howlers spend on average 19.7 ± 6.9% of the

time eating, a finding that is consistent with our own results.

Because our encounters were biased towards the early morning and the evening, this may

have skewed the behavior results. These were the times that the monkeys tended to howl, and we

found them extremely hard to encounter during the times they were not howling. For this reason,

we preferred to focus our sampling efforts to the morning and the evening, using midday to

conduct interviews. Based on the few encounters we had during midday, we found that the

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howlers preferred to rest during this time, likely due to the heat. We only encountered traveling

groups during the morning, suggesting that the howlers spend most of the day within a small

range. However, howler monkeys repeatedly use a few routes to travel between feeding and

sleeping sites, so given our biased sample timing, we may have missed other times that howlers

travel, such as afternoon or late evening. The small amount of encounters we had with traveling

groups is consistent with the literature that documents that day range of all howler monkeys

species is on average less than 600m (Kowalewski et al. 2015). Finally, most of the eating

encounters were observed during the evening. However, given our low sample size for the

behavior data these results should only be considered as preliminary observations. The behavior

of howler monkeys in Bella Vista and Limones must be furthered studied with a greater sample

size in order to test for any statistically significant trends.

Demography

The average group size that we encountered in Bella Vista was 6.8 ± 4.6, and in Limones

was 8.1 ± 3.4 (Table 3). In La Pacifica, Costa Rica mean group size of A. palliata in fragmented

habitat was 12.6 (Clarke & Zucker 1994). A 23-year study of A. palliata on Barro Colorado

Island, Panama found that mean group size in continuous forest was 19.0 ± 6.0 (Ryan et al.

2008). In La Pacifica, Costa Rica mean group size of A. palliata in fragmented habitat was 12.6

(Clarke & Zucker 1994). Comparing our results to these studies, we can thus see a potential

impact of fragmentation on group size in our areas of study. Mean group size was slightly larger

in Limones, due perhaps to a lesser degree of habitat fragmentation in the area compared to Bella

Vista. Group sizes more closely match the fragmented forests of La Pacifica, and are much

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smaller than that of Barro Colorado Island. It is important to consider, however, the limitations

of our study. Given our time limitations, we could not follow the groups for very long. It is

possible, therefore, that some of the howler groups we encountered were merely subgroups that

split off to forage. This would bias our results towards smaller group sizes, when in reality the

groups may have been larger. Nevertheless, we can still say something about the presence of a

lot of small groups. It has been documented that when resources are clumped at low densities (as

is the case in landscapes with high fragmentation), howler monkeys are found in smaller

subgroups (Chapman 1990).

Social data

Perceived threats

Through our interviews, we identified several perceived threats to howler monkeys:

deforestation, capture for sale, capture for use as personal pets, hunting by humans for sport,

hunting by humans for food, hunting by dogs, and climate change. In both Bella Vista and

Limones, we found that the most common perceived threat was deforestation (Figure 8). Capture

for sale and hunting by dogs were the second most common perceived threats. We learned from

three people that it was more common to keep monkeys as pets in the past, but over the last 15

years this has decreased. Six of our interviewees said that howler monkeys are not kept as pets in

the area at all. In general, people in the area don’t really keep howler monkeys as pets. It is more

common to keep the squirrel monkeys as a pet, but even this has decreased in the last 15 years.

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In Limones, none of our interviewees mentioned the second most common perceived threats

in Bella Vista (capture for sale and hunting by dogs). Instead, they perceived hunting by humans

for food and for sport as the other threats to howler monkeys in the area. It is important to note

that all five of our interviewees perceived deforestation to be a threat. This is may be due to the

close proximity of Limones to an oil palm plantation, which may be a more evident form of

deforestation since it occurred more recently than the deforestation of Bella Vista. However, this

may also be an effect of small sample size and thus should not be too greatly emphasized without

further study.

General observations

The preferred monkey of our interviewees in Bella Vista was a tie between the squirrel

monkey or all three types (Figure 9). Howler monkeys and capuchins were both least favorite,

with only one person voting for each. Despite this tie, we heard many negative opinions towards

the capuchins throughout our interviews; seven people told us that the capuchins are bothersome

because they eat crops and eggs and are often aggressive. There were much less negative views

towards the howler monkeys, which were only disliked by three people because they are

considered ugly and noisy. In general, people are pretty indifferent to howler monkeys, neither

disliking nor particularly liking them.

In Limones, a majority of people said that they liked all three types equally. While the

squirrel monkey and the capuchins tied for second favorite, no interviewee voted for the howler

as their favorite. Interestingly, absent from our interviews in Limones were the strong negative

feelings towards capuchins that we found in Bella Vista, with only one person mentioning

instances of them eating crops. We hypothesize that this may be because a greater degree of area

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around Limones is residential, lacking the livestock and crops that are more typical of Bella

Vista. Capuchins may thus be less of a nuisance to people in Limones. We must again, however,

take into account our small sample size of interviews for Limones; the opinions of the few we

interviewed may not accurately represent the views of the entire town.

Future conservation ventures

For the social part of our project, we strove to understand the social context of Bella

Vista and Limones and the relationship of the local communities to monkeys. Although the

purpose of our study was neither to identify nor implement conservation strategies, the

information that we gathered is the preliminary step in doing so in the future. For that reason, we

believe it is important to discuss what the process of implementing those conservation strategies

should entail. This requires a brief discussion of approaches to conservation.

The concept of conservation has continuously evolved throughout history. Early

conservation movements emphasized an intrinsic value of nature, advocating for its preservation

as a pristine environment untouched by humans. This is in contrast with later movements which

had a greater focus on the instrumental value of nature. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the

United States Forest Service, was a principal advocate for this, saying that “the purpose of

Forestry, then, is to make the forest produce the largest possible amount of whatever

crop or service will be most useful, and keep on producing it for generation after

generation of men and trees” (Pinchot 1998). In these early approaches, the point of conservation

then was to protect nature in order to maximize its use for humans both for the present and for

the future.

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The idea of the instrumental value of nature has remained in modern concepts of

conservation, which emphasize placing an economic value on the services that an ecosystem

provides. The idea behind this is that in this post-neoliberal capitalist world, people will only

care about protecting nature if they understand the costs associated with its loss. The ecosystem

services concept thus seeks to maximize the costs and benefits associated with the loss or

protection of a particular ecosystem: for example, assessing whether a piece of forest will have

greater economic value to the greatest number of people in its intact state, which provides

services such as carbon sequestration and water purification services, or in its conversion to

timber (Collard et al. 2014).

The problem with the preservationist approach is that ecosystems are not static and

pristine; they are dynamic and change over time even without human intervention. Both

preservation and neoliberal conservation are furthermore problematic in that they often come at

the expense of local communities. In its commodification of nature, neoliberal conservation often

feeds resource extractive processes in developing countries. Neoliberal conservation advocates

for partnership of conservation with corporations (Kareiva et al. 2012), promising increased

public participation and property rights to local communities, in addition to green business

practices. In reality, these approaches are detrimental to communities, often displacing local

people while simultaneously excluding them from the benefits of the conservation projects,

which are received instead by external actors (Igoe, J. & Brockington 2007). A prime example of

this was the protection of the Panama Canal watershed, outlined by Carse (2012). In the 1970s,

concerns over water supply for the Panama Canal necessitated a management approach that

emphasized forest conservation. This management focused largely on protecting the forests

around the Canal and addressing the deforestation activities of the people who lived in the

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watershed. For example, forest guards were employed by the Panamanian government in order to

protect the watershed from campesino farmers. Further ignoring the local context and the key

processes important to the swidden agricultural system, a law was passed delineating rastrojo

(land burned post-crop growth) older than 5 years as protected forest. As a result, campesinos

began to clear rastrojo earlier than they normally would have, decreasing the productivity of the

land. Although protected areas strive to integrate conservation with ecosystem services (in this

case, increasing the retention of water in order to increase the economic return of the Canal),

they thus often negatively impact local communities. The failure of protected areas has been

documented: in Thailand, for example, local support for Marine Protected Areas was minimal

because they were perceived to have negative impacts on fisheries and agricultural livelihoods

(Bennett & Dearden 2014). Without community support, conservation efforts are more likely to

fail. Conservation projects are thus successful when they are designed for the particular social

and economic context of an individual community (Brooks et al. 2013). Furthermore, they must

be designed not simply for but also with the local community; this involves public participation,

allowing all potentially impacted actors the chance to voice their opinions and take part in

decision making (Webler & Tuler 2000).

For these reasons, we believe that future attempts to implement conservation strategies in

Bella Vista and Limones should involve directly working with the community. As we saw

firsthand, there is a huge economic dependence on cattle farming, which requires a lot of both

space and time. In an attempt to protect monkeys, then, it is important not to overlook the needs

of the local community. Significant barriers exist which may hinder the accessibility of

conservation initiatives. Limited access to internet and electricity, as well as physical isolation,

can make promotion and organization of projects difficult. In Bella Vista, the roads leading to

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the homes further from the town are not usable throughout the entire year, further isolating those

families. In some cases, conservation is not a priority simply because individuals feel that they

have other, more serious concerns. In other cases, individuals care deeply about wildlife but lack

the time and resources to carry out larger-scale projects within their community. Part of

implementing conservation strategies may thus involve education, which is why for our

presentation we focused on the importance of protecting forest both for the ecosystem and for its

importance to the humans who live there. Future projects can also focus on starting dialogues

between community members and allowing various stakeholders to contribute to conservation

efforts in ways which are suitable to their capabilities and interests.

According to AMBIENTE Law 1, article 23 for rivers and streams in Panama a strip of

forest must be left equal to the width of the channel on both sides, and this can never be less than

10 meters. Although from the map we can see that the streams on the area are still forested, when

we surveyed alongside them we found that in most cases this law was not followed, with pasture

often ending close to the edge of the streams. The lack of compliance to and enforcement of this

law is evidence of the need to involve the local community in protecting the environment. Within

both Bella Vista and Limones, we encountered a few people dedicated to the conservation of

monkeys. We spoke with one man in Limones who had constructed a ladder bridge above the

main road in order to connect the forests near his house to the forest across the street. Acts like

these done by community members serve as important stepping stones to implementing

conservation projects throughout the community.

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Conclusion

In the context of a study area with a great degree of habitat loss combined with a high

diversity of wildlife, it is important to assess the impacts of these land use changes on individual

species. Howler monkeys are an interesting subject due to their flexible diet which allows them

to persist in areas of anthropogenic disturbance. For this reason, there are still populations of

mantled howler monkeys living in the Burica peninsula. However, we found that the

fragmentation of the habitat in our study areas is indeed affecting A. palliata.

Maps were produced for Bella Vista and Limones, illustrating the geographic distribution

of our sightings, as well as some points gathered by Dr. Ariel Rodriguez-Vargas. These show the

monkey troops’ dependence on forested areas and highlight the high proportion of deforested

area for both regions. These maps can also be used as an educational tool. For Bella Vista, the

forested area covered 30% of the region between Quebrada del Medio and the tip of the

peninsula, showing high fragmentation. Troops were present in both gallery forest and areas of

continuous forest. Monkey sightings were dispersed across the forested area, and population

density showed high variability between different regions of the study area. The significance of

these density values is difficult to evaluate based on a single population study, and a long-term

study would be useful to understand the dynamics of the troops around Bella Vista. In addition to

showing the current state of A. palliata distributions and densities in Bella Vista and Limones,

our maps thus serve as an important preliminary record to be compared against in future studies.

Although howler monkeys are a highly adaptable species, they are still unable to survive past a

certain degree of habitat loss and fragmentation (Mandujano and Escobedo-Morales 2008). For

example, inbreeding can occur in fragmented forests due to a loss of forest connectivity

(Oklander et al. 2010). The level of inbreeding is an interesting topic that could be explored in

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future studies in order to give insight into the connectivity of the forest fragments. For our study

we divided the area into fragments based on streams, but its likely that there is still a degree of

connectivity and gene flow between the forests of these streams due to the forested areas along

the coast.

The average group size that we found was similar to those found in other fragmented

landscapes and much smaller than those of continuous forests, indicating that fragmentation

indeed is having an effect on group size in Bella Vista and Limones. Our behavior data matches

what is typically found in the literature, indicating that behavior (time spent eating, resting, and

traveling) is not influenced by decreased habitat. In a study examining the effects of fragment

size on various behavioral factors of howler monkeys, no correlation between fragment size and

distance traveled daily was found (Bicca-Marques 2003). Rather than travel further to find food,

howler monkeys adapt their diet to the area they inhabit.

Finally, the analysis of our interviews in Bella Vista shows a preference for squirrel

monkeys, a dislike for capuchins, and an indifference towards howler monkeys. The dislike

towards capuchins due to their tendency to eat crops could be used to help make the case for

reforestation, since crop raiding is known to occur by both capuchins (Mckinney 2010, Freitas et

al. 2008), and howler monkeys (Bicca-Marques 2009) when habitat is decreased. This point was

also brought up by a community member during our presentation. Furthermore, deforestation is

the most common perceived threat to howler monkeys in the area. However, this was only

mentioned by 50% of our interviewees as a threat, possibly indicating the need for more

education on the subject. Unfortunately, our sample size for Limones was too small to make any

real conclusions regarding the opinions of the community towards monkeys.

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Finally, we recommend the continued involvement of community members in the

identification and implementation of conservation strategies. We hope that our results and

observations can be a helpful preliminary step in empowering the communities in the Burica

peninsula to manage and protect their environment. The students and community members that

we encountered during our research exemplified the immense potential in this area, and we are

interested to see how Bella Vista and Limones will respond to growing environmental

challenges.

Acknowledgements

We would like to offer our deepest thanks to the communities of Bella Vista and Limones for

participating in this project and offering us their time and knowledge during our research.

We would also like to thank the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí for enabling this project. We

would especially like to thank Ariel Rodríguez-Vargas for offering his support and expertise, as

well as the time taken to guide and assist us in carrying out our work.

We would like to offer special thanks to David Teichmann; Shawn, Shena, Reina and Lily

Lockwood; Edwin Castillo; Silvia and Junior Ramírez; Mixila and Veronica Gonzalez; and

Manuel and the staff of the Centro Educativo de Bella Vista.

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Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Our study area within Panama

Figure 2A: Bella Vista study area Figure 2B: Limones study area

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Figure 3A: Increase in pasture/cropland and

corresponding decrease in forest cover

(Kowalewski et al. 2015)

Figure 4: Map of Bella Vista

Figure 3B: Increase in soybean and oil

palm production in countries with howler

monkeys (Kowalewski et al. 2015)

(Kowalewski et al. 2015)

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Figure 5: Map of Bella Vista by stream

Figure 6: Map of Limones

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Figure 7: Behavior of howler monkeys by percentage of encounters.

Figure 8A: Perceived threats to howler monkeys in Bella Vista

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Deforestación Capturaparalaventa

Capturaparamascota

Caceríaporlagentepara

comida

Caceríaporlagentepara

deporte

Caceríaporperros

Cambioclimático

Núm

erodepersonas

Tipodeamenaza

AmenazaspercibidasalosmonosaulladoresenBellaVista

Traveling10%

Eating16%

Eating/Resting21%

Resting53%

Percentage of encounters spent resting, traveling, or eating

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Capuchin20%

Squirrel20%

All 360%

Favorite type of monkey in Limones

Howler12%

Capuchin

12%

Squirrel38%

All 338%

Favorite type of monkey in Bella Vista

Figure 8B: Perceived threats to howler monkeys in Limones

Figure 9: Monkey preference by species in Bella Vista and in Limones.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Deforestación Capturaparala

venta

Capturapara

mascota

Caceríaporla

gentepara

comida

Caceríaporla

gentepara

deporte

Caceríapor

perros

Cambio

climático

Númerodepersonas

Tipodeamenaza

AmenazaspercibidasalosmonosaulladoresenLimones

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Table 1: Description of behavior categories

Type of behavior Description

Resting The entire group was resting only.

Eating The entire group was eating only.

Resting/Eating

Part of the group was resting and part of the

group was eating.3

Traveling The entire group was moving through the trees

to a different location.

Table 2: Behavior of howler monkeys by time of day.

Resting Eating/Resting Eating Traveling

Morning 7AM-11AM 4 2 0 2

Midday 11AM-3PM 3 0 1 0

Evening 3PM-7PM 3 2 2 0

Table 3: Average group size in different areas of study

Location Mean number of monkeys per group (±

SD)

Bella Vista 6.8 ± 4.6

Limones 8.1 ± 3.4

La Pacifica – bosque fragmentado

(Clarke & Zucker 1994)

12.6

Isla Barro Colorado – bosque continuo

(Ryan et al. 2008)

19.0 ± 6.0

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Table 4: Demography and area of streams in Bella Vista

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Appendix 1: Semi-Structured Interviews

1. Fecha

2. Nombre

3. Localidad de la entrevista (con punto GPS)

4. ¿Cuántos años tiene?

5. ¿Cuántos años tiene de vivir en esta zona?

6. ¿Ha visto monos este último año?

7. ¿Qué clases de monos ha visto este último año (Mono aullador, mono tití, mono

carablanca)?

8. ¿Hay clases de monos que ha desaparecido de la zona?

9. ¿Dónde ha visto los monos aulladores?

10. ¿En cual tipo de medio ambiente ha visto monos aulladores?

11. ¿Bosque nuevo, bosque secundario, rastrojos, bananales, bosque de galería, platanares,

cocoteros, otras frutales (caimito, guaba, mango), cercas vivas?

12. ¿Cuales tipos de árboles comen los monos? ¿Comen las hojas o las frutas?

13. ¿Cree usted que los monos aulladores son a veces capturados para la venta o para

mascotas? ¿Sino, en el pasado? ¿Hace cuánto tiempo?

14. ¿Cree usted que la deforestación afecta a los monos aulladores? ¿En su opinión, hay otras

cosas que pueden afectar a los monos?

15. ¿Conoce de otras lugares donde se encuentran monos?

16. ¿Usted tiene comentarios adicionales?

Opiniones

1. ¿En general, le gusta usted la presencia de los monos en el área? ¿Todos tipos

carablancas, titíes y aulladores?

2. ¿Cual es su tipo de mono favorito? ¿Porque lo prefiere?

3. ¿Hay razones porque no le gustan los monos?

4. ¿Cree que en general, la gente en el área le gustan los monos?

5. ¿En su opinión, cuáles beneficios tiene la presencia de los monos?

Appendix 2: Direct Observations

1. Date

2. Time

3. GPS point

4. Elevation

5. GPS device

6. Description of location (property owner, district, county)

7. Site ownership or jurisdiction (Private, municipal, federal)

8. Land use of area

9. Description of environment (Proximity to paths, bodies of water and open areas. Type of

forest, possible sources of food)

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10. Individuals in groups

11. Number of females

12. Number of males

13. Number of juveniles

14. Number of infants

15. Total

16. Behavior

17. Eating? How many?

18. Resting? How many? What type(s) of trees?

19. Other activities? How many? What type(s) of trees?

20. Did the group travel? If so:

21. New time

22. Type(s) of tree

23. New GPS point

24. Other observations: Mother separate from group? Parasites?

Appendix 4: CORE certification

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