Male Dispersal and Association Patterns
There was a significant correlation between the availability of fruits
and the number of males transferring between core units in a given month
(Spearman: Rho = 0.50, Z = 2.33, Monte-Carlo approximatedp -value = 0.048). Conversely, there was no relationship between
the number of male transfers and rainfall (Rho = 0.14, Z =
0.71, P = 1.00), or the availability of young leaves (Rho= 0.22, Z = 1.05, P = 0.87). Thus, male transfers were
most likely to occur when fruits were abundant and core units
aggregated. Furthermore, the core units in which males transferred
between were more likely to keep associating (i.e., maintaining a high
AI) than would be expected given their baseline level of association
with other units. Analyses revealed significantly higher associations
(P < 0.05) of the dispersal dyad for 1-2 months
post-dispersal than would be expected given their association with
control core units (Fig. 4). However, we found that by the third
post-dispersal month, all dispersal dyad AIs were no longer
significantly different from the null. It is noteworthy that the core
unit that switched its clan association from clan 1 to clan 2 between
the two sampling periods (Newtonia) may have had this increase in
association with clan 2 because five males dispersed from this core unit
to a unit in clan 2 (Fagara).