Seed dispersal by black-handed tamarins, Saguinus midas niger (Callitrichinae, Primates): implications for the regeneration of degraded forest habitats in eastern Amazonia

Abstract

The feeding behaviour of free-ranging black-handed tamarins, Saguinus midas niger, was monitored over 6 mo in a forest fragment in eastern Amazonia. The tamarins' diet included arthropods and plant exudates, but was predominantly frugivorous (87.5% of feeding records, 18 plant species) in all months. The seeds of at least six species were ingested whole and defecated intact. Ingested seeds were relatively large, but those with diameter > 1 cm or length > 2 cm were discarded. Seeds took 2–4 h to pass through the digestive tract, and more than half (50.6%) were dispersed to a habitat different from that in which they were ingested. A fifth (19.3%) of all seeds were dispersed from primary to secondary forest, indicating that S. m. niger may play an important rôle in forest regeneration, a rôle that will become increasingly important in the fragmented landscape of eastern Amazonia.