Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Comparing Capuchins and Coatis: What Can a Non-Primate Teach Us About Primate Socioecology?

将灵长类动物行为与生态学联系起来的模型（社会生态学模型）可能在其普遍性上受到限制，因为它们都是从现存的非人类灵长类动物中发展出来并在其身上进行了测试。如果我们要用这些模型来理解灵长类化石和人类祖先的社会系统，就有必要测试这些模型是否适用于关于繁殖、感官和其他特征的假设，这些特征通常在现存灵长类动物和其他哺乳动物之间存在差异。灵长类动物社会生态模型的稳健性将通过比较生活在同一栖息地的陆地食肉动物环尾浣熊（Nasua Nasua）和树栖灵长类动物棕色卷尾猴（Cebus apella）来检验。这两个物种都有相似的摄食生态（水果和无脊椎动物）和群体规模，因此社会生态学模型预测它们的社会系统将相似。这项研究将调查浣熊的社会系统与猴子的社会系统有何不同，因为1)生活在地面上还是树上，2)主要依靠嗅觉还是视觉，3)有一窝幼崽还是单身幼崽。本研究将采用自然观察和对照饲养实验对三组长鼻浣熊进行研究，以确定这些差异对这两种物种的个体摄食率、联盟形成、食物发现和使用以及社会制度的影响。然后将这些数据与先前在同一森林中记录的卷尾猴数据进行比较。这项研究的结果将揭示生态、感官和生殖特征如何塑造哺乳动物社会行为的进化。智力优势：通过在非灵长类动物身上测试源自灵长类动物的社会行为进化模型，本研究将测试这些模型的稳健性。对这两种起源不同的物种进行比较，并结合精心挑选的实地实验，可能会支持标准模型的普遍性。然而，所发现的任何差异都可能表明，在将这些模型应用于非灵长类动物以及不具备当今大多数灵长类动物特有特征的灵长类动物时，都要谨慎。认识到灵长类化石（包括人类祖先）的社会系统可能不是现存物种之间的简单中介，而是呈现出新的特征或现有社会特征的新组合，这一点可能很重要。更广泛的影响：这项研究将是第一次深入研究南美洲浣熊的生态和行为。它不仅为了解哺乳动物的进化提供了比较数据，而且为哺乳动物的保护和管理提供了重要的数据。该项目将为一些美国和阿根廷学生提供热带生物学方面的培训机会。

Models relating primate behavior to ecology (socioecological models) may be limited in their generality, as they are both developed from and tested on living non-human primates. If we are to use these models to understand the social systems of fossil primates and human ancestors, it is necessary to test whether these models are robust to assumptions about reproductive, sensory, and other characters that often differ between living primates and other mammals. The robustness of primate socioecological models will be tested by comparing a terrestrial carnivore, the ring-tailed coati (Nasua nasua), to an arboreal primate, the brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella), living in the same habitat. Both of these species have a similar feeding ecology (fruit and invertebrates) and group sizes, thus socioecological models predict that their social systems will be similar. This study will investigate how the social systems of coatis may differ from that of the monkeys because of 1) living on the ground vs. in trees, 2) relying mostly on smell vs. sight, and 3) having litters vs. single young. This study will use natural observations, and controlled feeding experiments on three groups of coatis to determine the impact these differences have on individual feeding rates, coalition formation, food discovery and use, and the social system of these two species. These data will then be compared to previously recorded data on capuchin monkeys in the same forest. The results of this study will shed light on how ecological, sensory, and reproductive traits shape the evolution of mammalian social behavior. Intellectual merit: By testing primate-derived models of the evolution of social behavior in a non-primate, this study will test the robustness of these models. The comparison of these two species of distinct origins, combined with carefully chosen field experiments, may uphold the generality of the standard models. However, any differences found may suggest cautions in applying these models both to non-primates as well as to primates that do not possess the particular suite of traits that characterize most primates today. It may be important to realize that the social systems of fossil primates (including human ancestors) may not be simple intermediates between those of living species, but present novel traits or novel combinations of existing social traits. Broader impacts: This study will be the first intensive study of ecology and behavior of the South American coati. It will provide not only comparative data for understanding the evolution of mammals, but important data for the conservation and management of this species. The project will provide training opportunities in tropical biology for several U.S. and Argentine students.