Dissertation Research: Effects on Individual Variation.

该项目的目标是评估在生态环境中导致个体生长率和死亡率变化的因果因素。 这项研究将在博茨瓦纳莫雷米国家野生动物保护区的野生狒狒身上进行。 事实上，所有哺乳动物都面临着最佳生长和早期达到成年体型与进食相关风险之间的权衡，这一活动增加了对捕食的脆弱性。 对于狒狒这样的社会性动物来说，这种权衡发生在一个复杂的社会环境中，同种动物既是竞争者又是保护者。 这项研究将集中在如何等因素的存在或不存在的近亲，社会地位的群体，年龄，大小和性别调解这一重要的权衡。

The goal of this project is to evaluate the causal factors contributing to individual variation in growth rate and mortality within an ecological context. The research will be on wild baboons in Moremi National Wildlife Reserve, Botswana. Virtually all mammals face a trade-off between optimal growth and early attainment of adult body size with the risks associated with feeding, an activity which increases vulnerability to predation. For social animals such as baboons, this trade-off occurs in a complex social context where conspecifics are both competitors and protectors. This research will focus on how such factors as the presence or absence of close kin, social status within the group, and age, size and sex mediate this essential trade-off.