Spatial Reaction Norms of Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Response to Seasonal Resource Variation in Two Contrasting Landscapes
Abstract
Human-induced land use changes create both challenges and opportunities for wildlife. Cultivated areas represent a food source but bear a risk of human-wildlife conflict. In the Middle Atlas of Morocco, the Endangered Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) has experienced increasing grazing in its forest habitat and conversion of pastures adjacent to forest to croplands, in which macaques now forage. Orchard owners hire wardens to deter macaques from entering croplands. To inform human-wildlife coexistence strategies, we examined how resource availability and perceived risk, measured by the daily presence of wardens and canopy openness (Barbary macaques are reluctant to cross open areas), influenced macaques’ use of crops and natural foods. Over 9 months, we monitored space use and diets in two groups, one with access to orchards and one without. We used “spatial reaction norms” to describe how each group adjusted its habitat preferences across seasons, in response to temporal variation in resource availability in the group’s home range. Our results showed that macaques selected resources based on the relative costs and benefits in the landscape. Macaques consumed naturally occurring resources throughout the study, but when anthropogenic resources were available, macaques preferentially selected them over natural foods. However, increased risk due to human deterrence associated with a resource consistently reduced its use for as long as the risk persisted. From a management perspective, these insights suggest that reducing the use of the natural resources by humans can help attract macaques to the forest but only if combined with wardens to guard the crops.
Related
- A novel lineage of Chilomastix mesnili in wild Moroccan Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)
- Attention Across Scales: From Individual Variation to Social Hierarchies and Brain Networks in Semi-Free-Ranging Macaques
- Reaction-time asymmetry covaries with shifts in hand choice in macaques
- Catchment structure and functioning mediates beaver activity in contrasting lowland agricultural landscapes
- Experimental evolution reveals contrasting adaptive landscapes in lab and field environments
BibTeX
@article{minot2026spatial,
title = {{Spatial Reaction Norms of Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Response to Seasonal Resource Variation in Two Contrasting Landscapes}},
author = {Elsa Minot and Pascaline Le Gouar and Zouhair Amhaouch and Simon Chollet and Em Demellier and Aude Ernoult and Nelly Ménard and Juliette Menier and Clara Tanvier and Lucie De Wever and Guillaume Péron},
journal = {International Journal of Primatology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s10764-026-00544-3},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05574682v1},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Spatial Reaction Norms of Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Response to Seasonal Resource Variation in Two Contrasting Landscapes
AU - Elsa Minot
AU - Pascaline Le Gouar
AU - Zouhair Amhaouch
AU - Simon Chollet
AU - Em Demellier
AU - Aude Ernoult
AU - Nelly Ménard
AU - Juliette Menier
AU - Clara Tanvier
AU - Lucie De Wever
AU - Guillaume Péron
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - International Journal of Primatology
DO - 10.1007/s10764-026-00544-3
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05574682v1
AB - Human-induced land use changes create both challenges and opportunities for wildlife. Cultivated areas represent a food source but bear a risk of human-wildlife conflict. In the Middle Atlas of Morocco, the Endangered Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) has experienced increasing grazing in its forest habitat and conversion of pastures adjacent to forest to croplands, in which macaques now forage. Orchard owners hire wardens to deter macaques from entering croplands. To inform human-wildlife coexistence strategies, we examined how resource availability and perceived risk, measured by the daily presence of wardens and canopy openness (Barbary macaques are reluctant to cross open areas), influenced macaques’ use of crops and natural foods. Over 9 months, we monitored space use and diets in two groups, one with access to orchards and one without. We used “spatial reaction norms” to describe how each group adjusted its habitat preferences across seasons, in response to temporal variation in resource availability in the group’s home range. Our results showed that macaques selected resources based on the relative costs and benefits in the landscape. Macaques consumed naturally occurring resources throughout the study, but when anthropogenic resources were available, macaques preferentially selected them over natural foods. However, increased risk due to human deterrence associated with a resource consistently reduced its use for as long as the risk persisted. From a management perspective, these insights suggest that reducing the use of the natural resources by humans can help attract macaques to the forest but only if combined with wardens to guard the crops.
SN - 0164-0291
SN - 0164-0291
ER -