ROW/RPG: Ecology of Limb Use Among the Neotropical Procyonidae

原蜥科食肉类哺乳动物均生活在新大陆，均在一定程度上以树栖（爬树）为主。在中美洲和南美洲的同一片森林中，有多达4个现存的属共存，但人们对它们的栖息地需求或森林在它们之间的分配方式知之甚少。P.I.研究了这些动物的肢体解剖和肢体运动学，试图了解生物力学解决方案的多样性，以解决食物获取、逃离捕食者和在复杂的三维栖息地中运动的问题。这些研究路线已经导致了一些关于原睫状体运动模式、肢体比例和食物处理行为的功能和生态意义的假设，这些假设需要实地工作来验证。肌肉结构的研究和博物馆标本的测量不足以阐明这一分类群向广泛的适应类型的辐射。该计划拨款旨在调查定位，无线电跟踪和捕获鲜为人知的原yonids的可行性，以获得以下数据：(1)野外运动模式和栖息地使用；(2)野外和实验室条件下野生动物的肢体使用行为（运动和食物处理）。(3)运动和食物处理能力的差异在多大程度上阻止了原yonid属和种对栖息地的重叠利用。

The mammals in the carnivore family Procyonidae all live in the New World and all are arboreal (tree-climbing) to some extent. Up to four of the five living genera coexist in the same forests in Central and South America, but little is known about their habitat requirements or the way the forest is apportioned among them. The P.I. has studied the limb anatomy and limb kinematics of these animals in an attempt to understand the diversity of biomechanical solutions to be problems of food acquisition, escape from predators, and movement through a complex, three-dimensional habitat. These lines of inquiry have led to several hypotheses regarding the functional and ecological significance of procyonid locomotor patterns, limb proportions, and food-handling behaviors that require field work to test. Studies of muscle structure and measurement of museum specimens are not sufficient to elucidate the radiation of this taxon into a wide range of adaptive types. This planning grant is designed to investigate the feasibility of locating, radio-tracking, and capturing the lesser known procyonids to obtain data on (1) movement patterns and habitat use in the field, (2) limb use behaviors (locomotion and food handling) of wild animals under field and laboratory conditions, and (3) the extent to which differences in locomotion and food-handling abilities prevent overlap in habitat use by procyonid genera and species.