Collaborative Research on Population Differences in Vervet Monkey Life History

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With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Patricia Whitten and Trudy Turner will investigate the role of life history in divergence of populations of vervet monkeys in Kenya. This collaborative research combines data and expertise from genetics, endocrinology, morphology, demography and behavior. Life history analyses link the events and processes of an individual's life to demographic and evolutionary events at the population and species level. The timing of growth, maturation and aging have important consequences for behavior, demography and the genetic structure of populations. This research will investigate these effects using a unique data set combining genetic, morphometric and socioecological information in four ecologically distinct populations of vervet monkeys. Genetic relatedness will be assessed with 8-10 polymorphic microsatellite loci. Allele frequencies will be used to determine migration rates and differentiation among groups and populations. Paternity and maternity will be ascertained by examining allele sharing between individuals. Serum concentrations of adrenal and gonadal steroids will be assessed by radioimmunoassay. Endocrine data will be combined with morphological data to assess population differences in maturation and aging. These analyses will be used to address several questions: 1. Do males migrate to troops where they have brothers? 2. Are stress hormones higher when living in groups with more competitors and lower genetic relatedness? 3. Do stress levels in males and females and paternity in males affect behavior toward offspring? 4. Do increases in adult body size in a population result from delayed maturation and prolonged growth in males and females living in that population? 5. Do individuals in populations with richer resources mature and age more rapidly? This research is important for several reasons. The data set provides an opportunity to gain an in-depth portrait of a group of organisms that is rarely obtained in animal studies, because of both the number of animals sampled and the range of biological systems examined. These data provide a link between population level phenomena and individual physiology that will provide new insights into social behavior and life history. Within species variation in life history is poorly documented. A better understanding of the balance between facultative and evolutionary adaptations to local conditions within species can enhance our understanding of the evolution of life history differences across species.