Dissertation Research: Reproductive Success and Genetic Population Structure In Wedge-Capped Capuchin Monkeys

大多数身体和行为特征进化理论的一个基石是这些特征在多大程度上提高了拥有这些特征的个体的生殖成功。然而，尽管它在解释进化方面很重要，特别是我们自己和其他灵长类动物行为的进化，但对野生非人类灵长类动物的研究很少得到任何关于繁殖成功的估计。这在很大程度上是因为很难获得做出这些估计所需的长期人口统计数据和遗传分析。拟议的研究将使用高分辨率的分子遗传标记，结合21年的人口统计和行为数据，直接评估野生新大陆灵长类物种--楔帽卷尾猴(Cebus Olivaceus)的繁殖成功。这些分子工具将允许确定亲子关系、其他类型的亲属关系(兄弟姐妹、表亲等)、母系亲属的遗传和社会边界，以及女性与有时提供护理的非后代之间的关系程度。所有这些措施都将有助于确定某些行为如何提高生育后代和其他亲属的机会，所有这些后代和其他亲属都带有祖先的基因。通过这项研究，我们将开始了解诸如单一男性繁殖垄断、女性封闭制、照顾非后代和其他类型的裙带关系等特征在多大程度上会产生真正的生殖和遗传后果。通过了解这一点，它将为更仔细地解释灵长类行为的进化提供基础，其中许多行为与我们自己的行为相似。

A cornerstone of the theory of the evolution of most physical and behavioral traits has been the degree to which those traits enhance the reproductive success of the individuals who have them. However, despite its importance in explaining evolution, particularly the evolution of our own behavior and those of other primates, very few studies of wild non-human primates have obtained any estimates of reproductive success. This is due largely to the fact that it is difficult to obtain the long-term demographic data and genetic analyses required to make these estimates.The proposed study will use molecular genetic markers with a high power of resolution, in conjunction with twenty-one years of demographic and behavioral data, to assess directly reproductive success in a wild New World primate species, the wedge-capped capuchin (Cebus olivaceus). These molecular tools will allow the determination of parentage, other kinds of relatedness (sibling, cousin, etc.), the genetic and social boundaries of maternally related kin, and the degree of relatedness between females and the non-offspring to which they sometimes deliver care. All of these measures will help to define the ways in which certain behaviors render a greater chance of having offspring and other kin, all of whom carry a progenitor's genes. They will also allow us to assess the ways in which individual behaviors and group organization determine the distribution of genetic traits across a population.Through this study, we will begin to get some idea of the degree to which characteristics such as single male breeding monopoly, female sedentism, and the care for non-offspring and other types of nepotism have real reproductive and genetic consequences. By knowing this, it will provide the basis for more careful explanations of the evolution of primate behaviors, many of which parallel our own.