Dissertation Research: Effects on Individual Variation.

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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.