BODY-SIZE, DIET AND POPULATION-DENSITY IN AFROTROPICAL FOREST MAMMALS- A COMPARISON WITH NEOTROPICAL SPECIES

1. This paper presents body mass and population density data for 88 Af rican forest mammal species from over 200 references. It uses phylogen etic comparative methods to examine the association between population density and body mass in relation to diet both in these data and in a similar compilation of data from over a hundred neotropical forest ma mmal species. 2. Predictably, population densities declined with incre asing body mass. The regression slope of log density on log mass for a ll the data combined was -0.54 (SE 0.075). 3. Density decreased with i ncreasing trophic level and with increasing specialization, although t hese factors could not be separated. The slope of density on mass did not differ significantly among trophic levels nor among dietary catego ries. Myrmecophagy, the most specialized diet, seemed to be associated with the lowest relative population densities. 4. The slopes obtained for the African assemblage and for all data combined were significant ly different from -0.75. Within dietary categories and within trophic levels, slopes did not differ significantly from -0.75, although sampl e sizes were often small. 5. There is no evidence to suggest that the relationships between mass, density and trophic level differ between A frotropical and neotropical forest mammals.