DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Female Fitness Consequences of Polyandry in an Orb-Web Spider, Argiope Trifasciata

动物社会是种群内个体之间发展的所有关系的总和。许多研究已经证明了生态和社会环境如何影响与个体可获得的各种行为选择相关的收益和成本，以及这些因素如何构成动物社会。然而，对于潜在的关系有很多，形成的关系是流动的，环境特征和发展的关系之间的联系却知之甚少。该项目探讨了生态特征，如食物、水和无捕食者的分布，以及人口和社会特征，如人口密度和性别比，如何塑造灰色斑马和野驴的个体关系，这两个进化上密切相关的物种表现出“裂变”和“融合”的社会系统。我们开发了一种新的模型，可以预测这种“开放成员”社会中关系形成和破裂的规则，并预测这些规则将对人口范围内的社会模式和进程产生的影响。数据将从四个地点收集到两种濒临灭绝的马科动物，灰斑斑马和斑马。这四个地点提供了关键环境和社会力量的自然变化，并将作为测试我们模型预测的理想系统。这项研究还将通过教育学生和当地民众，以及向自然资源管理者展示基础行为研究如何有助于设计有效的管理计划，为改善这些物种的保护策略提供有用的信息。

Rubenstein-Sundaresan Doctoral Dissertation Improvement GrantIndividual Behavior and Female Associations in Fission-Fusion EquidSocietiesAnimal societies result from the sum of all relationships that develop amongindividuals within populations. Many studies have demonstrated howenvironmental circumstances, both ecological and social, influence the benefitsand costs associated with the various behavioral options available toindividuals and thus how they these factors structure animal societies. Yet inspecies where potential relationships are many and those that form are fluid,the link between environmental features and the relationships that develop arepoorly understood. This project explores how ecological features, such as thedistribution of food, water and predator-free sites, together with thedemographic and social features, such as population density and sex ratio,shape individual relationships in the Grevy's zebra and wild ass, twoevolutionarily closely related species exhibiting 'fissioning' and 'fusing'social systems. We have developed a novel model that predicts rules for theformation and breakdown of relationships in such 'open-membership' societiesand forecasts the impact these rules will have on population-wide socialpatterns and processes. Data will be gathered on two endangered equid species,Grevy's zebra and Onagers, from four sites. The four sites provide naturalvariation in the key environmental and social forces and will serve as an idealsystem for testing the predictions of our model. The study will also provideuseful information needed to improve conservation strategies for these speciesby educating students and the local populace and by demonstrating to naturalresource managers how fundamental behavioral research can assist in designingeffective management plans.