灵长类营养生态学的研究进展

营养生态学是现代生态学领域研究动物食物数量和质量、营养适应以及营养对种群特征作用规律的分支学科。目前从营养生态学研究灵长类食性需求主要分为五种假说,1)能量最大化假说;2)氮(蛋白质)最大化假说;3)植物次级代谢产物调节假说;4)膳食纤维调节假说;5)食物营养均衡假说。本文从研究方法和研究内容分别介绍了这些假说在灵长类中的研究进展,并综述了我国的灵长类各物种在营养生态学领域开展研究的进展。

What does it mean to be a macronutritional generalist? A five-year case study in wild rhesus macaques(Macaca mulatta)

DEAR EDITOR,Dietary generalism is widely associated with ecological flexibility,but the mechanisms of this relationship remain poorly understood.A recently developed body of theory on the relationship between generalism/specialism at the levels of foods selected vs.nutrients ingested,termed multi-level dietary niche theory,offers a powerful opportunity to deepen our understanding of the dietary generalist-specialist spectrum and its ecological significance.

Blue sheep in the Annapurna Conservation Area,Nepal:habitat use,population biomass and their contribution to the carrying capacity of snow leopards

The Himalaya region of Nepal provides a habitat for the endangered snow leopard(Panthera uncia)and its principal prey species,the blue sheep(Pseudois nayaur).The aim of this study was to describe the habitat,the distribution and the population structure of blue sheep,and to estimate their contribution to the carrying capac-ity of snow leopard in the upper Mustang region of Nepal.Blue sheep were recorded at altitudes from 3209-5498 m on slopes with gradients of 16-60°and aspects of 40°NE to 140°SE.A total of 939 blue sheep were counted in the upper Mustang region,and 98 were counted in the Yak Kharka region of Manang district;how-ever,upper Mustang had the lowest population density of blue sheep recorded within their distribution range in Nepal(0.86 blue sheep/km^(2)).The results of the study show that a higher density of blue sheep is associated with greater plant species diversity.The most important species present in the blue sheep habitat were Kobresia pyg-maea,Artemesia spp.,Lonicera spp.,Lancea tibetica,Poa spp.,Astragalus spp.and Ephedra gerardiana.It is estimated that the existing blue sheep population biomass of approximately 38925 kg in the upper Mustang re-gion could support approximately 19 snow leopards(1.6 snow leopards/100 km^(2)).

Economic Analysis of Electric Fencing for Mitigating Human-wildlife Conflict in Nepal

Human-wildlife conflict is one of the biggest conservation challenges throughout the world.Various conservation strategies have been employed to limit these impacts,but often they are not adequately monitored and their effectiveness assessed.Recently,electric fencing has been constructed as a means to mitigate humanwildlife conflict surrounding many Nepalese protected areas.To date,there are no other studies analyzing the cost effectiveness and efficacy of fencing for conservation.This study aims to examine the cost effectiveness of electric fencing in the eastern sector of Chitwan National Park,Nepal,where the fencing has recently been constructed.Great Indian one-horned rhinoceros（Rhinoceros unicornis）,wild boar（Sus scrofa）,Asian elephant（Elephas maximus）,and tiger（Panthera tigris） were the main wildlife species involved in human-wildlife conflict in the buffer zone area surrounding the park,where the fencing was deployed.Electric fencing was significantly effective in reducing crop damage by 78% and livestock depredation by 30%–60%.Human mortality was not reduced significantly in the study areas and continued at low levels.Our analysis suggested that total net present value of the cost of electric fence in Kagendramalli User Committee（KMUC） and Mrigakunja User Committee（MKUC） was 1 517 959 NPR（Nepalese Rupees,21 685 USD） and 3 530 075 NPR（50 429 USD） respectively up to the fiscal year 2009/10.Net present benefit in KMUC and MKUC was 16 301 105 NPR（232 872 USD） and 38 304 602 NPR（547 208 USD） respectively up to 2009/10.The cost-benefit ratio of electric fence up to base fiscal year 2009/10 in KMUC is 10.73,whereas MKUC is 10.85.These results illustrate that the electric fencing program is economically and socially beneficial in reducing human-wildlife conflict（crop damage and livestock depredation） around the protected areas where large mammals occur.

Seasonal diet and microbiome shifts in wild rhesus macaques are better correlated at the level of nutrient components than food items

Food supply is one of the major drivers of animal behavior,and the gut microbiome is an important mediator be-tween food supply and its effects on physiology.However,predicting the outcome of diet change on microbiome and consequences for the animal has proven extremely challenging.We propose this reflects processes occurring at different scales.Inadequate accounting for the multi-level complexity of nutrition(nutrients,foods,diets)obscures the diet influence on microbiome and subsequently animal.Here,we present a detailed year-round,multi-level analysis of diet and microbiome changes in a wild population of a temperate primate,the rhesus macaque(Macaca mulatta).Total daily food and nutrient intake of 6 male and 6 female macaques was monitored in each of the 4 sea-sons(total 120 days observations).For each individual,we found significant variation in the microbiome between all 4 seasons.This response was more strongly correlated with changes in macronutrient intake than with food items and much of the response could be explained at the level of 6 ecological guilds—sets of taxa sharing similar responses to nutrient intake.We conclude that study of diet,microbiome,and animal performance in ecology will more effectively identify patterns if diet is recorded at the level of nutrient intake.Although microbiome response to diet does show variation in species-level taxa in response to food items,there is greater commonality in response at the level of guilds.A goal for microbiome researchers should be to identify genes encoding microbial attributes that can define such guilds.