Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Behavioral Ecology of Chimpanzees Living in a Dry Area, Ugalla, Tanzania

该项目主要研究生活在坦桑尼亚通威东部森林保护区乌加拉地区的黑猩猩的生态和行为。乌加拉是已知黑猩猩生存的最干燥的环境之一，它与许多为早期原始人重建的古环境有相似之处。长期以来，人们一直认为生活在干旱地区的黑猩猩是模拟早期原始人行为和生态的重要数据来源，但对这类种群的研究很少。这项研究试图找出影响黑猩猩在哪里筑巢以及它们如何利用栖息地的因素。由于乌加拉的黑猩猩不习惯人类观察者，也没有食物，所以研究方法不需要直接观察这些类人猿。将绘制黑猩猩巢穴地图以及它们存在的其他迹象(觅食残骸、粪便)，并研究它们所使用的资源(食物、水、可供筑巢的树木)的分布情况。关于黑猩猩可获得的水果数量和季节分布的数据将通过监测已知或可能被黑猩猩吃掉的物种的个别树木来获得。此外，黑猩猩的饮食数据将通过分析粪便和从巢中收集的毛发中存在的碳和氮的含量来获得。这项研究获得的数据将与其他黑猩猩种群和其他类人猿的数据进行比较。同样重要的是，将这些结果与早期原始人栖息地使用的考古证据进行比较。

This project focuses on the ecology and behavior of chimpanzees living in the Ugalla area of The Tongwe East Forest Reserve in Tanzania. Ugalla is one of the driest environments in which chimpanzees are known to exist and it shares similarities with many of the paleoenvironments reconstructed for early hominids. It has long been proposed that chimpanzees living in dry areas are an important source of data for modeling the behavior and ecology of early hominids, but very little research has been conducted on such populations. This study attempts to discern the factors that influence where the chimpanzees nest and how they use their habitat. Since the chimpanzees at Ugalla are not habituated to human observers and are not provided with food, the study methods require no direct observation of these apes. Maps of chimpanzee nests as well as other signs of their presence (feeding remains, feces) will be constructed, and the distribution of the resources they use (food, water, available trees for nesting) will be studied. Data on the amount and seasonal distribution of the fruit available to the chimpanzees will be obtained by monitoring individual trees of species known to be eaten or possibly eaten by the chimpanzees. In addition, data on the chimpanzees' diet will be obtained by analyzing feces and the contents of carbon and nitrogen present in hair collected from nests. The data obtained from this study will be compared with that for other chimpanzee populations as well as for other great apes. It will also be important to compare these results against the archaeological evidence for early hominid habitat use.