title: Seasonal importance of flowers to Costa Rican capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator): Implications for plant and primate.
abstract: Our goal is to investigate flower foraging by capuchin monkeys, a behavior rarely studied in wild primates. We ask what drives seasonal variation in florivory rates: flower quality and abundance or fluctuations in fruit and invertebrate abundances. We explore how capuchins affect the reproductive success of flower food species by quantifying the potential pollination rate.
  
  
  
  We followed capuchin groups from dawn to dusk and recorded all flower foraging bouts. Flower food nutritional composition was compared to fruit and invertebrate foods. We recorded overall flower, fruit, and invertebrate abundances and compared the rate of flower foraging to these. We estimated the likelihood of pollination from the proportion of flower patch visits to each plant species that satisfied minimum behavioral requirements.
  
  
  
  Flower eating was highly seasonal, and was significantly negatively related to overall fruit and invertebrate abundance but not flower abundance. Although smaller than most fruits, flowers were nutritionally comparable to fruit foods by dry mass and contained higher average concentrations of protein. Capuchins are likely pollinators for Luehea speciosa; most foraging visits to this species occurred in a manner that makes outcrossing or geitonogamous pollination likely.
  
  
  
  Flowers are an important seasonal resource for capuchins. Flowers likely act as fallback foods during periods of reduced fruit and invertebrate abundance, and may exert evolutionary pressure disproportionate to their consumption. Capuchin florivory likely affects the reproductive success of some plants, potentially shaping forest structure. Our study illustrates the value of assessing the importance of rare foods in the primate diet.
authors: Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Jeremy D
authors: JD
authors: Hogan
authors: Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Amanda D
authors: AD
authors: Melin
authors: Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Krisztina N
authors: KN
authors: Mosdossy
authors: Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.
authors: Linda M
authors: LM
authors: Fedigan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002428:Cebus / Q000502:physiology*; D003364:Costa Rica; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D035264:Flowers; D006702:Homing Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D012621:Seasons; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: fallback food; florivory; pollination; seasonality; tropical dry forest