Dissertation Research: Socioecology of Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi panamensis) in Wet Forest

论文研究：湿森林蜘蛛猴（Ateles geoffroyi panamensis）的社会生态学

• 批准号: 0233248
• 负责人: Robert Sussman
• 金额: $ 1.04万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-10-15 至 2003-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0233248&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Socioecology; Spider; Monkeys

Investigating the range of behavioral and ecological variability within species is crucial for understanding broader patterns of social adaptation while minimizing confounding effects of phylogeny. Variability may be seen by studying the social system of one species in several different habitats. Differences in social systems within the same species may be explained by differences in food availability and distribution across different habitats. This project will investigate social system variation of spider monkeys (Ateles spp.) by studying them in productive, wet forest, a habitat where they have never before been studied. Spider monkeys are one of only several mammalian species that has a fission-fusion social system, in which the entire group rarely coalesces but instead is split into subgroups with fluid, variable membership. These monkeys specialize on eating ripe fruit, and their social system has been suggested to be an adaptation for reducing feeding competition within the group. How spider monkeys respond to fluctuations in their environment, and how their responses vary across a wide range of habitats, is informative for the broad scope of socioecology. The fluid nature of spider monkeys' fission-fusion social system allows sensitive detection of how such variables as diet, food availability and distribution, and subgroup size and composition interact. No long-term studies exist of spider monkeys living in a large, continuous tract of productive, diverse, lowland wet forest where they also live with a complete suite of potential predators. Living in this productive forest may result in relatively decreased feeding competition for this population of spider monkeys, so their social system may differ from populations living in drier habitats. The objectives of this project are the following: (1) to test hypotheses relating diet and foraging ecology to the social structure and organization of spider monkeys living in a diverse, wet forest with a decreased dry season, (2) to gain a clearer view of this primate's variation in behavior and ecology by comparing the results of this study with those of published studies of spider monkeys from other sites, and (3) to provide the first investigation of the relationships between subgroup changes and social and ecological variables in a large group of spider monkeys. This project has intellectual merit that spans several academic disciplines. This project will be of interest to physical anthropologists because chimpanzees and bonobos (Pan spp.), our closest living relatives, are the only other primates to consistently display a fission-fusion social system like that of spider monkeys; comparative studies of Pan and Ateles provide a relatively phylogenetically-independent approach for understanding the environmental determinants of the fission-fusion social system. This project will be of interest to biologists, especially behaviorists and ecologists, due to its focus on the relationships between spider monkeys' demography, social behavior, and ecology.

研究物种内行为和生态变异的范围对于理解更广泛的社会适应模式至关重要，同时最大限度地减少系统发育的混杂影响。 通过研究一个物种在几个不同栖息地的社会系统可以看出变异性。 同一物种内社会系统的差异可以通过不同栖息地的食物供应和分布的差异来解释。 该项目将通过在多产、潮湿的森林中研究蜘蛛猴（Ateles spp.）的社会系统变异，这是一种以前从未研究过蜘蛛猴的栖息地。蜘蛛猴是仅有的几种具有裂变融合社会系统的哺乳动物物种之一，在该系统中，整个群体很少合并，而是分裂成具有流动性、可变成员资格的亚群。 这些猴子专门吃成熟的水果，它们的社会系统被认为是为了减少群体内的进食竞争而做出的调整。 蜘蛛猴如何应对环境波动，以及它们的反应在广泛的栖息地中如何变化，对于广泛的社会生态学具有重要意义。 蜘蛛猴裂变融合社会系统的流动性可以灵敏地检测饮食、食物供应和分布、亚群规模和组成等变量如何相互作用。 目前还没有关于蜘蛛猴生活在大片、连续的多产、多样化的低地湿森林中的长期研究，在那里它们还与一整套潜在的捕食者一起生活。 生活在这片多产的森林中可能会导致蜘蛛猴种群的觅食竞争相对减少，因此它们的社会系统可能与生活在干燥栖息地的种群不同。 该项目的目标如下：（1）测试饮食和觅食生态与生活在干燥季节减少的多样化、潮湿森林中的蜘蛛猴的社会结构和组织相关的假设，（2）通过将本研究的结果与其他地点已发表的蜘蛛猴研究结果进行比较，更清楚地了解这种灵长类动物的行为和生态变化，以及（3）首次调查亚群变化之间的关系 以及一大群蜘蛛猴的社会和生态变量。 该项目具有跨越多个学科的智力价值。 这个项目将会引起体质人类学家的兴趣，因为黑猩猩和倭黑猩猩（Pan spp.）是我们现存的近亲，是唯一始终表现出像蜘蛛猴那样的裂变融合社会系统的灵长类动物；潘和阿特莱斯的比较研究为理解裂变融合社会系统的环境决定因素提供了一种相对系统发育独立的方法。 该项目将引起生物学家，特别是行为主义者和生态学家的兴趣，因为它关注蜘蛛猴的人口统计、社会行为和生态之间的关系。