2016-12-212016-12-212014-12-17SOARES, Paola Cardias. Comportamento e dieta de um grupo de macacos-aranha-da-cara-branca, Ateles marginatus (É. Geoffroy, 1809), no sul da Amazônia. 2014. 70 f. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Pará, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, 2014. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia.https://repositorio.ufpa.br/handle/2011/7193The distribution of precipitation over the months, influences on annual distribution of food resources and how these resources can be found in an environment causes primates to adopt different strategies in order to gain access to them. In our study, we evaluated the variations in behavior and diet of the white whiskered spider monkey (Ateles marginatus) at the Cristalino Private Reserve. The primates were followed and behavioral and diet data was systematically collected over nine months, between September 2011 until May 2012, through the scan sampling method. The variation concerning activity budget, use of space and diet was analyzed for three periods characterized by distinct rainfall amounts (early rains, rainfall peak and transition from rain to drought). At the peak of the rains, the primates apparently maximized its energy consumption, moving more (43.8%) so as to have more access to fruits, which were probably more available in the environment, eating more fruits (96.5%) and resting less (18.5%). Upper height classes (>20 to 30 meters) were most widely used during periods of rain, both at the beginning and in the peak, at least in part as a way to shelter from the rain and the ranging area and daily journey lengths were higher at the early rains period. There was a predominance of females in the subgroups, with males being more recorded (36.2%) at the beginning of the rainy season, probably to copulate, an activity that had most of their records occurring in one month (December) for that same period. Largest subgroups were recorded during periods of increased precipitation, and smaller sub-groups in drier times seem to be part of the strategy to avoid intraspecific competition. The diet was mostly frugivorous, being distinguished in the transition from rain to drought, not only by the lower contribution of ripe fruits (54.3%) as well as the contribution of young leaves (35.8%), when compared to the other two periods, when ripe fruits composed more than 70% of the diet. Diet diversity of ripe fruit was concentrated in a small number of key species of fruit trees and the fruits used to be swallowed whole, with the disposal of seed being unusual and occurring only for few species. Seeds ingested passed intact by the digestive tract of spider monkeys and caterpillars’ consumption was limited to a short period of time, constituting an alternative source of protein. Alternative items like decaying wood and earth from termite nests in months of low rainfall seem to complement the diet at the same time that also supply the primates’ diet with nutrients such as sodium, calcium and phosphorous, which are less present in ripe fruits, and the consumption of Eichhornia sp., although little recorded, suggests that these aquatic plants are important nutritional content in the diet of these primates. High frugivory of spider monkeys and their ability to disperse intact seeds away from the parent plants, reinforce its importance in the regeneration of forests and justify their conservation and their habitats. Information regarding the behavioral ecology and diet of these primates, though basic, are pioneering and essential to understand the adaptive strategies of the species.Acesso AbertoEcologia animalPrimataAteles marginatusMacaco-aranhaConservação animalDietaAmazônia brasileiraDissertaçãoCNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ZOOLOGIA::COMPORTAMENTO ANIMALCNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA::ECOLOGIA APLICADACNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ZOOLOGIA::ZOOLOGIA APLICADA::CONSERVACAO DAS ESPECIES ANIMAIS