Dissertation Research: Dental Development and Life History in Catarrhine Primates

在进化生物学中，生命史指的是一个物种的生命阶段结构。生活史变量包括妊娠期、断奶年龄和第一次生育年龄、生育间隔和寿命。这些变量彼此高度相关，也与体型、大脑大小和牙齿发育密切相关。该项目将测试生命史与牙齿发育的相关性，使用组织学和放射学方法确定六种亚洲灵长类动物的牙冠和牙根发育的顺序和时间。该项目将采用一种新的方法，通过检查体重相似但生活史变量不同的长臂猿、两只叶猴和一只猕猴，以及一只较大的暹罗猴和一只较小的猕猴的牙齿发育变化来控制体型的影响。任何相关的模式将被检查，以确定如何系统发育，人口统计和生态影响的生活史影响牙齿的发展。这项研究的结果将为目前所知甚少的物种的牙齿发育提供重要信息，并允许构建一个新的牙齿发育模型，该模型可能用于理解灵长类动物和人类进化的生活史策略。

In evolutionary biology, life history refers to the way the stages of life are structured in a species. Life history variables include gestation period, age at weaning and first reproduction, inter-birth interval, and life span. These variables correlate highly with each other, as well as with body size, brain size, and dental development. This project will test the precision with which life history correlates with dental development, using histological and radiographic methods to determine the sequence and timing of crown and root development in six Asian primates. The project will use a new approach, controlling for the effects of body size by examining the variation in dental development in a gibbon, two leaf monkeys, and a macaque with similar body weights but differences in life history variables, as well as a larger siamang and a smaller macaque. Any patterns of correlation will be examined to determine how phylogenetic, demographic, and ecological effects on life history affect dental development. The results of this research will provide critical information on dental development in species for which very little is currently known and permit the construction of a new model of dental development that may be used in understanding life history strategies in primate and human evolution.