Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026

Quantifying Corticolous Arthropods Using Sticky Traps
Published on: January 19, 2020
Tamarin polyspecific associations: Forest utilization and stability of mixed-species groups
1Scottish Primate Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, Scotland, hmbl@stirling.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Niche separation is likely to play a key role in the formation of mixed-species groups. Saddle-backed tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis) were studied at three sites with different primate communities in northern Bolivia: (1) with red-bellied tamarins,S. labiatus; (2) with emperor tamarins,S. imperator; and (3) without a congeneric species. The degree of association is higher betweenS. labiatus andS. fuscicollis than betweenS. imperator andS. fuscicollis and is related to differences in forest utilization between associating pairs. Niche separation is found to be greater betweenS. labiatus andS. fuscicollis than betweenS. fuscicollis andS. imperator. The mean height and habitat utilization ofS. fuscicollis does not differ greatly across the three sites, nor does the height of tamarins in and out of association. It is concluded that combined with differences in body size and dietary overlap, vertical segregation plays an important role in tamarin polyspecific associations (increasing the potential of both foraging and anti-predatory benefits) and that this is not a consequence of vertical displacement ofS. fuscicollis by its dominant congeners.
Related Concept Videos
Symbiosis
Conservation of Small Populations
Habitat Fragmentation
Optimal Foraging
Microbial Interactions: Mutualism
Conservation of Declining Populations
