The importance of protein in leaf selection of folivorous primates.
2017
Protein limitation has been considered a key factor in hypotheses on the evolution of life
historyand
animal communities, suggesting that animals should prioritize protein in their
food choice. This contrasts with the limited support that food selection studies have provided for such a priority in nonhuman primates, particularly for
folivores. Here, we suggest that this discrepancy can be resolved if
folivoresonly need to select for high protein leaves when average protein concentration in the habitat is low. To test the prediction, we applied meta-analyses to analyze published and unpublished results of food selection for protein and fiber concentrations from 24 studies (some with multiple species) of
folivorousprimates. To counter potential methodological flaws, we differentiated between methods analyzing total nitrogen and soluble protein concentrations. We used a meta-analysis to test for the effect of protein on food selection by primates and found a significant effect of soluble protein concentrations, but a non-significant effect for total nitrogen. Furthermore, selection for soluble protein was reinforced in forests where protein was less available. Selection for low fiber content was significant but unrelated to the fiber concentrations in representative leaf samples of a given forest. There was no relationship (either negative or positive) between the concentration of protein and fiber in the food or in representative samples of leaves. Overall our study suggests that
protein selectionis influenced by the protein availability in the environment, explaining the sometimes contradictory results in previous studies on
protein selection. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22550, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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