Doctoral Dissertation Research: The evolutionary impact of fires among tropical forest species

Forest fires profoundly alter the ecological communities that inhabit affected areas and may have played a significant evolutionary role among multiple animal lineages including primates. The role of fires in the ecology and evolution of primates is not well understood, because most current primate species live in tropical forests where fire studies are rare. This doctoral dissertation research assesses how forest fires affect primate species that have different diets. The research provides context for studies of primate and human evolution since wildfires may have played a significant role in the transition from forest to savannah environments when hominins were first emerging. Results from this study are relevant to the assessment of current conservation efforts. Additionally, the project provides training and educational opportunities for K-12, undergraduate and graduate students. This study assesses how forest fires affect primates with different dietary traits, by focusing on two food sources suggested to benefit primates after fires: new foliage and insects. Applying surveys and distance sampling methods, this research measures and compares the post-fire population densities of seven non-human primate species across dietary niches. The study evaluates changes in the availability and nutritional content (water, protein, fiber, and condensed tannin) of leaves from known food species in burned and adjacent unburned forest. Additionally, resource abundance and isotopic niches among sympatric species are analyzed to determine whether fire-induced changes lead to dietary overlap among them. The study informs primate conservation and primate evolution. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.