Checkerboard Patterns,Interspecific Competition,and Extinction: Lessons from Distribution Patterns of Tarsiers (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tarsius</Emphasis>) and Slow Lorises (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Nycticebus</Emphasis>) in Insular Southeast Asia |
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Authors: | V Nijman K A I Nekaris |
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Institution: | (1) Nocturnal Primate Research Group, Department of Anthropology and Geography, School of Social Science and Law, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK;(2) Zoological Museum Amsterdam, PO Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Tarsiers (Tarsius) and slow lorises (Nycticebus) are the only extant nocturnal primates occurring in Southeast Asia. Harcourt (1999) hypothesized that in insular Southeast Asia, slow lorises and tarsiers showed a checkerboard distribution on 12 small (<12,000 km2) islands, i.e., only one or the other occurs, and attributed this to extreme levels of competition between these 2 largely
faunivorous primates. Further, he predicted slow lorises were able to persist on smaller islands than tarsiers. We re-evaluated
these findings using an expanded dataset including 49 islands where tarsiers or slow lorises occur. Tarsiers and slow lorises
live on islands of similar size (median size of ca. 300–900 km2), and both taxa inhabit an equal proportion of small, medium, and large islands. On small islands within their area of sympatry
tarsiers occur on 1 island, slow lorises on 8, both genera on 3, and we can assume they have become extinct from 11 small
islands since the Last Glacial Maximum. Sizes of islands where tarsiers or slow lorises have become extinct do not differ
from islands where they are still extant. We show that slow lorises occur on more islands in insular Southeast Asia than perhaps
previously assumed, but these islands are not smaller on average than islands where tarsiers occur. A checkerboard distribution
between these taxa is not evident. More studies are needed at the macroecological level to assess the importance of biogeographic
history in explaining their present-day distribution patterns. |
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