ORIGINAL ARTICLE Environmental and phylogenetic correlates of Eulemur behavior and ecology (Primates: Lemuridae) Kerry Ossi & Jason M. Kamilar Received: 9 August 2005 / Revised: 27 May 2006 / Accepted: 31 May 2006 / Published online: 9 August 2006 # Springer-Verlag 2006 Abstract The extent of diversity within closely related taxa may be a function of their shared evolutionary history or of selective forces causing adaptive changes. Examining variation among taxa within a single genus may help to identify flexibility in trait variation because recently diverged populations are more likely living in the environ- ment of adaptation. This study examines correlates of diversity in Eulemur, a genus that has a wide distribution in a variety of habitat types throughout Madagascar. Previ- ously published data were gathered from 11 long-term studies of Eulemur populations. Variables were categorized into multiple datasets: (1) environmental characteristics, (2) social organization, and (3) ecology, which included subsets for ranging behavior, diet, and activity budget. Molecular phylogenies from the literature were used to create the fourth and final dataset, a dissimilarity matrix of evolutionary distance among the 12 species and subspecies. Principal components and cluster analyses were imple- mented to examine the overall ecological similarity among Eulemur populations and to determine which variables contribute most to the variation among taxa. Partial Mantel tests were conducted to test for correlations among the dataset matrices. The results suggest ecological flexibility for the genus, in particular, populations in similar environ- ments displayed similar activity patterns. In contrast, social organization showed no relationship with environment but was correlated with phylogenetic distance among popula- tions. While Eulemur seems to demonstrate some flexibility for ecological adaptations, characteristics related to group size and sex ratio more closely track phylogeny and thus may be less flexible. Keywords Geographic variation . Intraspecific variation . Biogeography Introduction Together, shared evolutionary history and selective forces have contributed to the patterns of extensive behavioral and ecological diversity among animal taxa. A great portion of past research on this variation has typically examined behavior and ecology in relation to habitat or resource distribution (Horn 1968; Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1978; Barton et al. 1996; Koenig et al. 1998), as socioecological theory generally interprets such variation as adaptive, often in response to environmental pressures (Rubenstein and Wrangham 1986; van Schaik 1989; Lott 1991; Sterck et al. 1997; Kappeler 1999). The numerous instances of intraspe- cific variation across populations as well as individual variation over time demonstrate the significance of consid- ering behavior as inherently flexible (Gould and Johnston 1972; Foster and Endler 1999). Yet some researchers have lamented the relative neglect of phylogeny and its significance for behavioral variation. Prum (1994) described past efforts to model Behav Ecol Sociobiol (2006) 61:53–64 DOI 10.1007/s00265-006-0236-7 Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s00265-006-0236-7 and is accessible to authorized users. Communicated by C. Nunn K. Ossi : J. M. Kamilar (*) Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA e-mail: Jason.Kamilar@sunysb.edu K. Ossi e-mail: kossi@ic.sunysb.edu