A sample of 1834 leaves from 83 plants in 26 families was collected in tropical rain forest in Madagascar from three vertical strata: top of emergent trees (up to 37 m), top of trees in upper canopy (about 22 m), and shrubs and saplings at ground level. These leaves were examined for damage by seven different agents: fungi, epiphyllae, mechanical injury, galls, leaf miners, grazing insects and skeletonizing insects. Fungi affected more than 60% of the leaves and grazing insects 45–65%, with other agents each affecting 3–30%; fewer than 4% of the leaves escaped unscathed by any agent. Individual leaves were attacked by up to five agents. There was a sharp decline in proportion of leaves affected by fungi, leaf miners, epiphyllae and mechanical breakage with increasing category of severity. Grazing insects, mechanical injury, and perhaps galls, had greater impact at ground level than in the canopy, with fungi and skeletonizing insects showing the opposite pattern. Leaf miners had lower incidence in the canopy than elsewhere. The observed vertical stratification means that a tree not only needs to balance its defences to meet multiple threats in any stratum, but must adapt to a different suite of challenges during its lifetime. Attack by grazing insects and fungi are major challenges for saplings at ground level, but with increasing height above the ground fungal attack on leaves becomes more prevalent, but attack by grazing insects less so.

A field experiment was conducted to test the effects of simulated folivory on leaf production, plant growth rate and mortality of small individuals of Metrodorea pubescens in an evergreen gallery forest in central Brazil. Although complete defoliation decreased annual growth rate, both in absolute and relative values, it also stimulated leaf production. Mortality was observed only in individuals in the smallest size class, but was not statistically related to percentage defoliation. Recovery of completely defoliated individuals was rapid and after one year over 70% of their initial number of leaves was present. It is probable that insect folivory is not a direct cause of mortality of juveniles of this species.

The single most important food source for Pteropus rufus at Berenty, in south-east Madagascar, is the pollen of Agave sisalana, a commercial species introduced to the area 60 y ago, which was widely available and constantly eaten by the bats during this 28-mo study. The diet of the bats at this site is unique in this respect when compared with P. rufus elsewhere in Madagascar and with other Pteropus species. The dietary breadth of P. rufus at Berenty is narrow, consisting of only 14 plant species, identified through microsopic faecal analysis and direct field observations, and three unidentified ones. The bats also eat locally cultivated and introduced fruits (Mangifera indica, Psidium cf. cattleianum, Sclerocarya caffra, Cordia sinensis and Hylocereus species) and native and endemic forest species (Tamarindus indica, Celtis philippensis, Ficus megapoda, F. grevei, F. pachyclada and Grewia species). The majority of the plant species used by P. rufus for food are located within the gallery forests of the Mandrare valley. No evidence of adjacent endemic spiny forest species was identified in their diet. Thus, conservation of the remaining gallery forest as well as retention of the sisal plantations is important to maintain the food sources of P. rufus at this site.

Ranging patterns are important features of animal ecology both for evolutionary ecologists who study adaptive foraging and habitat use, and for conservationists who need information on habitat requirements and minimum resource needs. Because ranging patterns are difficult and time-consuming to measure, many researchers have sought socio-ecological variables that predict range use. For example, many studies show a correlation between daily path length (day-range length) and the number of animals in a group (Chapman et al. 1995, van Schaik et al. 1983, Waser 1977, Wrangham et al. 1993). This seems reasonable because larger groups have more mouths to feed, necessitating more travel to find adequate food supplies. Group size is far easier to measure than day range, hence the attraction of this variable. However, group size must be used cautiously as a proxy for day range because their relationship is neither strong nor straightforward.

The diet of maned sloths was studied throughout 14 months in an Atlantic forest reserve of south-eastern Brazil. Three adult sloths were observed for a total of 680 h and located monthly by radio-telemetry. Data were collected on diet, recording the actual time the sloths spent eating plant species. Overall, the diet was composed of 99% leaves, with young leaves (68%) preferred to mature ones (7%) throughout the year. A higher proportion of tree leaves (83%) than liana leaves (16%) were included in the diet. When analysed together, the diet of the three animals included a total of 21 plant species (16 tree and 5 liana), but each individual made up its diet with an even smaller number of species (7–12) and with a particular subset of the local flora. This is a very small portion of the total number of tree and liana species available to the sloths; furthermore, the top species consumed were present at very low population densities in the forest. Thus, B. torquatus, like other congeneric species studied elsewhere in the Neotropics, is a strictly arboreal folivore with a highly selective diet, probably resulting from evolving physiological adaptations to cope with a smaller range of plant secondary compounds. This is possible for the species of this genus through a combination of low basal rates of metabolism, which enable the sloths to survive on an energy-poor diet, and a very long passage time of digesta, which, in turn, aids the digestion of a fibre-rich diet while possibly contributing to the degradation of secondary compounds.

Information on the feeding habits of the the lesser dog-faced friut bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, was obtained by the collection of food remains directly beneath daytime and feeding roosts. The bats were found to feed on the fruits of 54 plant species, the leaves of 14 species and the flower parts of four species. The seasonal phenological differences among congeneric plant species led to steady production of fruit throughout the year and the data suggets that Ficus spp. are a key component in the diet. Judging from its wide selection of fruits, C. brachyotis, is considered to be an important seed disperser. Folivory in C. brachyotis appears to be more common than previously thought. Of the leaves consumed by the bats, seven species belonged to the family Leguminosae, followed by Myrtaccae, Moraccae, Rhizophoacae and Euphorbiaccae. Friuts in general, provide an energy rich diet for phytophagous bats but most are low in protein. In contrast, leaves consumed by bats have a relatively high protein content. We suggest that folivory (by leaf fractionation) should be energetically more advantageous than the ingestion of large amounts of low protein friut or the active pursuit of mobile insects.