Predicting Life History Decisions in Communally Breeding Primates

9318900詹姆斯·迪茨在灵长类个体的一生中，它面临着一系列关键的生活史决定，例如配偶的选择以及扩散和繁殖的时机。每一个决定的结果都直接影响到生存和繁衍，自然选择应该有利于那些做出适当选择的个体。灵长类动物的研究在进化生物学工作中很少走在前列，因为a)它们的寿命，b)它们复杂的社会行为，c)它们的种群数量相对较少。相比之下，这项关于巴西金狮罗望鱼的研究开发了一种研究系统，可以绕过这些障碍。研究人员已经确定了该物种的关键生活史转折点，并记录了许多罕见的变异。他们认为，正是常见模式的例外，掌握着理解塑造生活史特征进化的因素的关键。在接下来的三年里，他们将加强对几个关键的生活史决定的选择变异的研究，并用严格的假设检验来检验它们。这项研究的长期目标是构建一个基于进化论和生态学理论的模型，使我们能够预测在这些决策时刻的个人选择。

9318900 James Dietz During its lifetime, an individual primate faces an array of critical life history decisions, such as mate choice and timing of dispersal and reproduction. The outcome of each of these decisions impacts directly on survivorship and fecundity, and natural selection should favor those individuals that make appropriate choices. Primate research has rarely been at the forefront in evolutionary biological work, because of a) their longevity, b) their complex social behavior, and c) their relatively low population numbers. This study, by contrast, on the golden lion tamarins in Brazil, has developed a research system that permits circumvention of these obstacles. The investigators have identified the critical life history junctures for this species, and have documented a good many rare variations. They believe that it is the exceptions to common patterns that hold the key to understanding the factors that shaped the evolution of life history traits. During the next three years, they will intensify the study of variation in choice for several critical life history decisions, and test them with strict hypothesis tests. The long term goal of the research is to construct a model based on evolutionary and ecological theory that will allow us to predict individual choice at these decision junctures.