Dissertation Research: Interspecific and Ontogenetic Variation in Positional Behavior and Habitat Use in Cebus apella and Cebus olivaceus in Guyana

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One of the major goals of primate evolutionary biology and biological anthropology is to understand the relationships between form and function in the primate musculoskeletal system, thereby gaining insight into how such traits provide adaptive benefits in the natural environment. Knowledge of how environmental factors influence changes in locomotor and postural behaviors throughout an animal's life can uncover important information concerning how adults of a given species are adapted to their particular environment. The researchers propose an integrative study that will combine field observations of positional behavior of two species of South American monkeys (Cebus apella and Cebus olivaceus) with detailed analyses of forest structure and skeletal anatomy in order to answer questions concerning the differences in locomotor behavior, habitat use and postcranial morphology in sympatric brown and weeper capuchin monkeys in Guyana. They will investigate between-species differences in adults and age-group differences within each of the two species. These two capuchins are ideal subjects for a study such as the one proposed here. First, their presence together in the same forests in Guyana allows an assessment of differences in behavior and habitat use while controlling for factors such as available habitat and seasonal variation in resource availability. Second, of all the anthropoid monkeys, capuchins exhibit life history traits most similar to apes and humans. Their long life span affords a greater possibility of observing discreet, age-based changes in behavior and habitat use over the course of this study. This project is designed as a general test of the relationships among behavior, environment and morphology within a developmental framework. The work proposed will provide a major contribution to a growing body of research which focuses on the role of development in the evolution of primate musculoskeletal systems and will address ideas concerning the behavioral and morphological bases for locomotor and postural adaptations in primates.