Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Endocrine Correlates and Fitness Consequences of Variation in Mothering Behavior in Wild Yellow Baboons (Papio cynocephalsu)

广泛适应照顾婴儿一直是人类和非人类灵长类进化的一个主要的、明确的特征。事实上，尽管人类和其他灵长类动物在照顾婴儿的模式上存在明显差异，但在人类和其他类人灵长类动物中，父母行为差异背后的许多生物学因素可能非常相似。研究非人类灵长类物种育儿行为变异的生物学原因和后果，特别是那些在系统发育上与人类最接近的物种，即东半球猴子和猿类，可以为人类育儿行为变异的起源提供新的视角、信息和洞察力。肯尼亚南部安博塞利的五组野生黄狒狒(Papio Cynocephalus)将对45只具有已知行为和人口学历史的雌性熊猫进行内分泌相关性和育儿行为变异的健康后果调查。利用行为模式、非侵入性粪便激素采样和AmBoseli长期数据库，这项研究将检验(1)母婴关系的差异可以从母亲在妊娠晚期和哺乳期早期四种类固醇激素谱上的差异来预测，(2)母婴关系的差异可以预测(A)母亲未来繁殖和(B)婴儿存活的差异。本项目建立在先前关于非人类灵长类动物的研究基础上，并在很大程度上扩展了对这一主题的研究，这些研究主要局限于少数物种的少数个体、圈养种群、一两种激素和侵入性激素采样。这个项目代表了对野生非人类灵长类种群中母性行为变异背后的生物作用力的第一次严格调查之一。通过关注最复杂和最密切相关的动物模型之一，这个项目将增强我们对人类起源的理解，并为人类育儿方式变异的起源提供新的信息和见解，同时避免研究人类时经常涉及的许多后勤和伦理困难。此外，这项研究将加深我们对野生种群母婴关系变异的了解，并将对全面分析野生灵长类动物的生活史变异做出重要贡献。在支持这一项目时，NSF支持了第一代越南裔美国人Nga Nguyen的博士培训，Nga Nguyen是她的家庭中第一个接受高等教育的人。Nguyen通过肯尼亚国家博物馆灵长类研究所(IPR)获得了她在肯尼亚的研究赞助。Nguyen将在IPR上介绍她在肯尼亚进行的研究的初步结果，并将出版各种技术出版物，涵盖几个适当的学科领域，包括行为生态学、行为内分泌学和生物人类学。公开提供的安博塞利猴猴项目网站(www.princeton.edu/~Baboon)的一部分将专门介绍这一项目。

Extensive adaptation for the care of young infants has been a major, defining characteristic of human and non-human primate evolution. In fact, despite obvious differences in patterns of infant care in humans and other primates, many of the biological factors underlying variation in parenting behavior are probably very similar in humans and other anthropoid primates. Research on the biological causes and consequences of variation in parenting behavior in non-human primate species, especially those phylogenetically closest to humans, i.e. Old World monkeys and apes, can yield new perspectives, information and insight into the origins of variation in human parenting.Endocrine correlates and fitness consequences of variation in mothering behavior will be investigated for 45 females of known behavioral and demographic history in five groups of wild yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) in Amboseli, southern Kenya. Using patterns of behavior, noninvasive fecal hormone sampling, and the Amboseli long-term database, this study will examine the extent to which (1) differences in the mother-infant relationship are predictable from differences among mothers in the profiles of four steroid hormones over late pregnancy and early lactation and (2) differences in the mother-infant relationship predict variation (a) in mothers' future reproduction and (b) infant survivorship.This project builds on and considerably extends previous research on this topic in non-human primates, which have primarily been constrained to a few individuals of a few species, captive populations, one or two hormones, and invasive hormone sampling. This project represents one of the first rigorous investigations of the biological forces underlying variation in mothering behavior in a wild nonhuman primate population. In focusing on one of the most socially complex and closely related animal models, this project will enhance our understanding of human origins and yield new information and insight into the origins of variation in human parenting while avoiding many of the logistical and ethical difficulties often entailed in studying humans. Furthermore, this study will enhance our understanding of variation in the mother-infant relationship in wild populations and will make important contributions to a comprehensive analysis of life-history variation in wild primates.In supporting this project, NSF is supporting a major part of the Ph.D training of the co-PI, Nga Nguyen, a first-generation Vietnamese American and the first of her family to receive post-secondary school education. Nguyen has received sponsorship for her research in Kenya through the Institute of Primate Research (IPR), National Museums of Kenya. Nguyen will present preliminary findings of her study in Kenya at IPR and will produce a variety of technical publications spanning several appropriate disciplinary areas, including behavioral ecology, behavioral endocrinology, and biological anthropology. A section of the publicly available Amboseli Baboon Project website (www.princeton.edu/~baboon) will be devoted to this project.