LTREB: Long-term Fitness Consequences of Wild Chimpanzee Behavior

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The goal of this study is to determine the long-term reproductive consequences of male chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) behavior. The behavior of chimpanzees has been studied in an extremely large community at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda for ten years. The project will combine results of this research with those from ongoing and proposed genetic analyses to address several unresolved questions about chimpanzee behavior: Does high mating competition affect the relationship between male dominance rank and reproduction? Does cooperation yield direct reproductive payoffs to male chimpanzees? How do males benefit from patrolling territory boundaries and engaging in inter-group aggression? Do males enhance their reproduction by associating selectively with certain females? Do males bias their behavior toward their paternal kin and selectively affiliate with and aid their offspring?Intellectual merit of the proposed activity. The question of how behavior contributes to the survival and reproduction of individuals is crucial to research on animal behavior, but is extremely difficult to address in long-lived animals that reproduce slowly, including most primates. The difficulties of collecting genetic data and the small sizes of primate social groups also hinder strong tests of hypotheses. Long-term behavioral data on an unprecedented large chimpanzee community has already made important contributions to understanding the behavioral strategies of male chimpanzees. Continued data collection combined with genetic data will fill significant gaps in knowledge about chimpanzee behavior. Notably, inspired by recent research questioning conventional wisdom that nonhuman primates cannot recognize paternal kin, this will project will test the hypothesis that paternal relatedness affects the behavior of male chimpanzees. Also, a more complete understanding of why cooperation among males, rare in the animal kingdom, is so prominent in chimpanzees.Broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity. This study will continue to furnish research opportunities for graduate students from North America and to promote collaboration with and provide support for a Ugandan scientist who manages the chimpanzee field project and pursues independent long-term research at Ngogo. An important component of the proposed research is to train several Ugandan graduate students, committed to the study of animal behavior and to the conservation of biodiversity. Sustained presence of the North American Research Group in Kibale National Park will help to safeguard one of the last vestiges of rainforest in East Africa, while training and supporting North American and Ugandan students, which will in turn ensure that conservation efforts are maintained into the future. Past and ongoing outreach efforts help to educate the public as well as promote conservation.