Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Evolution of the Reproductive System in Strepsirrhine Primates

生殖是每个生物体存在的核心，生殖生物学长期以来一直是灵长类动物学的核心问题。特别令人感兴趣的是狐猴的生殖研究，狐猴是一种局限于马达加斯加岛的高度濒危的灵长类动物，而懒猴是它们的非洲亲戚，研究较少。本研究将分析狐猴和懒猴在解剖学、行为学和生理学上的许多差异，以及影响这些差异的社会和生态特征。本研究将探讨对理解灵长类生物学和进化具有重要意义的三个主要主题：(1)生殖系统的比较解剖学；(2)生殖系统的进化变化；(3)进化速率。在这项研究中产生的解剖学、行为学和生态学特征将用于测试有关生殖系统的功能和进化假设，这些假设无法用现有数据进行测试。新的狐猴和懒猴的24种和许多亚种的解剖描述和照片将出版，这是我们对其解剖知识的重大进步。这项研究在许多方面具有深远的影响。它涉及美国和马达加斯加科学家之间的国际合作研究，结果是培训美国研究生和本科生（包括女性和少数民族）以及马达加斯加的学生。这项灵长类动物繁殖进化的研究结果对于保护野生濒危物种以及在广泛的基础和生物医学研究中维持圈养种群都具有重要意义。这项研究的结果将立即纳入美国和马达加斯加的教育计划，以及杜克大学灵长类动物中心的广泛推广计划。由于这项研究涉及有吸引力的濒危物种，这项工作的结果可能会引起相当大的公众兴趣，并将接触到广泛的公众。

Reproduction is central to the existence of every organism, and reproductive biology has long been a central issue in primatology. Of particular interest is the study of reproduction in lemurs, a highly endangered primate radiation confined to the island of Madagascar, and lorises, their understudied African relatives. This study will analyze the many anatomical, behavioral, and physiological differences among lemurs and lorises and the social and ecological traits that influence these differences. The proposed research will address three major topics of great significance to understanding primate biology and evolution: (1) comparative anatomy of the reproductive system, (2) evolutionary changes in the reproductive system, and (3) rates of evolution. The anatomical, behavioral, and ecological characters generated in this study will be used to test functional and evolutionary hypotheses about the reproductive system that could not be tested with existing data. New anatomical descriptions and photographs will be published for 24 species and numerous subspecies of lemur and loris, constituting a major advance in our knowledge of their anatomy. The proposed research has far-reaching impact on many fronts. It involves international, collaborative research between scientists from America and Madagascar that will result in the training of American graduate students and undergraduate students (including females and minorities) as well as students in Madagascar. The results of this study of the evolution of primate reproduction will be of major importance both for the conservation of endangered species in the wild as well as the maintenance of captive colonies involved in a wide range of both basic and biomedical research. The results of this study will be incorporated immediately into educational programs both in the USA and in Madagascar as well as the extensive outreach programs at Duke University Primate Center. Because this research involves attractive and endangered species, the results of this work are likely to be of considerable public interest and will reach a broad public audience.