title: Comparing aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) presence and distribution between degraded and non-degraded forest within Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.
abstract: The aye-aye is considered the most widely distributed lemur in Madagascar; however, the effect of forest quality on aye-aye abundance is unknown. We compared aye-aye presence across degraded and non-degraded forest at Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. We used secondary signs (feeding sites, high activity sites) as indirect cues of aye-aye presence and Canarium trees as an indicator of resource availability. All 3 measured variables indicated higher aye-aye abundance within non-degraded forest; however, the differences across forest type were not significant. Both degraded and non-degraded forests showed a positive correlation between feeding sites and high activity sites. We found that Canarium, an important aye-aye food source, was rare and had limited dispersal, particularly across degraded forest. This preliminary study provides baseline data for aye-aye activity and resource utilization across degraded and non-degraded forests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Ark., USA. zjfarris@vt.edu
authors.forename: Zach J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Farris
authors.forename: Toni Lyn
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sefczek
authors.forename: Patricia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D029403:Burseraceae; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008270:Madagascar; D011156:Population Density; D011443:Strepsirhini / Q000502:physiology*; D014197:Trees