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基石是这些特征在多大程度上提高了拥有它们的个体的繁殖成功率。 然而，尽管它在解释进化，特别是我们自己和其他灵长类动物行为的进化方面很重要，但很少有关于野生非人类灵长类动物的研究获得了生殖成功的估计。这在很大程度上是因为很难获得长期的人口统计学数据和遗传分析来进行这些估计。拟议中的研究将使用具有高分辨率的分子遗传标记，结合21年的人口统计学和行为数据，直接评估野生新世界灵长类物种楔帽卷尾猴（Cebus olivaceus）的繁殖成功率。 这些分子工具将允许确定亲子关系，其他类型的相关性（兄弟姐妹，堂兄弟姐妹等），母系亲属的遗传和社会界限，以及女性与她们有时提供照顾的非后代之间的关系程度。 所有这些措施将有助于确定某些行为使后代和其他亲属拥有更大机会的方式，这些人都携带着祖先的基因。 通过这项研究，我们将开始对个体行为和群体组织决定遗传特征在整个群体中的分布的方式有一些了解，比如单雄性繁殖垄断、雌性定居主义、照顾非后代和其他类型的裙带关系等特征在多大程度上对生殖和遗传产生了真实的影响。 通过了解这一点，它将为更仔细地解释灵长类动物行为的进化提供基础，其中许多行为与我们的行为相似。

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.