Seasonality in primates: studies of living and extinct human and non-human primates

Diane K. Brockman & Carel P. van Schaik (2005)

Cambridge University Press

ISBN 0521820693 (hardback) £70.00 / $120.00

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Oscar Wilde may have said “conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”, but here Brockman and van Schaik show how important a consideration it is for both the ecology of primates and our own evolution. When considering the tropics it is all too easy for those of us from temperate zones to assume within each tropical biome climate and day length are constant. This book reminds us that whist not as marked as more northerly or southerly latitudes the tropics undergo significant seasonal variation in both climatic and resource availability, and that this variation has profound effects for primates.

In Part I van Schaik and Brockman introduce their book and clearly set out their aims. They briefly outline the causes of seasonality and the ways in which it can impact on the ecology or primates; food availability, extent of cover and habitat structure, social life and reproduction. The effects of the much longer-term global changes in seasonality caused by Milankovich cycles on both primate and human evolution are then discussed. In Part II van Schaik and Pfannes explore phenology within the tropics, setting the scene against which the play of primate ecology takes place. This important chapter highlights the differences in the timing of flowering, fruiting and flushing throughout the tropics.

Now that the scene has been set the following three sections deal with seasonal influences on behavioural ecology, reproduction & social organisation and community ecology. In general these chapters are well written, providing ether detailed case studies or broad meta-analyses. It is pleasing to see a chapter on the effects of day length and heat stress, since as Hill notes, activity budgets may be significantly constrained by these often forgotten factors. The final section concerns seasonality and human evolution, with the last chapter by Brockman asking the question, “What do studies of seasonality in primates tell us about human evolution?”.

This volume provides a timely focus on the importance of seasonal variation for the ecology and evolution of primates. The balance between case studies and broad meta-analyses is good, and the chapters are arranged in a logical sequence leading the reader through from the direct effects of seasonality on habitat structure and resource availability to its influence on both behavioural and socio-ecology before considering the implications for primate and human evolution. Consequently this book will be of use to both primatologists and anthropologists. As they acknowledge it is written primarily for researchers and post graduate students, although selected chapters could be used to augment undergraduate behavioural ecology teaching.

The overarching idea of examining the implications of seasonality on human evolution results in a slight bias towards Old World studies. Among the species covered, baboons and lemurs push to the fore due to their inhabiting relatively strongly seasonal areas. These minor criticisms could have been balanced by a more explicit consideration of Neotropical primates and the inclusion of more detailed information on the very northerly macaques and colobines. However, these points do not detract from what is a very useful and well written volume.  

Andrew Smith

Anglia Ruskin University