Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Parasite Ecology and Behavioral Socioecology Among Two Primate Species

许多灵长类动物学研究中的一个重要主题是自然选择在行为模式的形成中所起的作用。 然而，灵长类动物生活史和行为生态学的理论方法大大忽视了寄生虫对灵长类动物的影响。为了说明这种代表性不足的程度，寄生生物比非寄生生物多。寄生虫分布是无处不在的，栖息在几乎每一个可用的环境。因此，寄生虫是生物多样性的一个非常自由的频谱的代表。 寄生虫感染基本上所有多细胞物种，考虑到它们的广泛分布和在塑造生态系统中的重要性，寄生虫不成比例地被研究不足，也没有得到很好的理解。 许多研究人员提到了寄生虫在塑造灵长类动物进化历史方面所发挥的重要作用。 然而，寄生虫通常不是大多数灵长类动物学研究的主要主题，并且仅给予简短提及。本研究的主要目的是了解两种灵长类动物宿主之间的相互作用，环尾狐猴（Lemur catta）和Verreaux的sifaka（Propithecus verreauxi），以及它们在马达加斯加Beza Mahafaly特别保护区的自然环境中所携带的寄生虫。在这一广泛任务的主持下，有四个具体目标。 第一个目标是研究每个物种的社会生态学如何影响寄生虫类型和流行，包括每个灵长类物种之间寄生虫的季节性波动。第二个目标是研究环尾狐猴和威洛狐猴利用潜在的消除，避免或减少寄生虫感染的行为。第三个目标是确定社会等级和性别如何影响这两个物种的个体寄生虫患病率。 最后，这个项目旨在了解一个生物改变的栖息地如何影响所有这些模式。这些目标将通过利用行为学和寄生虫学方法来实现。这项研究的更广泛影响可以使当地的马哈法利人以及生活在贝扎马哈法利特别保护区及其周围的环尾狐猴和韦罗狐猴受益。随着人类数量的增长和对非人类灵长类栖息地的侵占，同域性协会变得非常普遍。从行为学、流行病学、进化论、生态学和人类学的角度来理解人类与非人类灵长类动物之间的相互作用是很有趣的。 随着人类和非人类灵长类动物之间的亲密关系的增加，人畜共患病传播的可能性也在增加，这对人类和非人类灵长类动物都可能产生毁灭性的影响。如果这个竞技场包括濒危物种，这种情况的强度就会增加。拟议研究的结果将有助于当地马哈法利人和我们的马达加斯加合作者。当地马哈法利导游将被纳入本研究，因为他们对当地生态和景观的知识和专业知识是该项目成功的基础。 从学术的角度来看，研究人员致力于与马达加斯加合作者在保护倡议和未来的出版物。 投资于来源国学者对他们未来的学术努力和维持地方性动植物种群的未来极其重要。

An important theme in many primatological studies is the role that natural selection plays upon the shaping of behavioral patterns. However, theoretical approaches to primate life history and behavioral ecology have vastly overlooked the influences of parasites on primates. To illustrate the magnitude of this under representation, there are more parasitic organisms than nonparasitic organisms. Parasite distributions are ubiquitous, inhabiting almost every environment available. Thus, parasites are representative of a very liberal spectrum of biodiversity. Parasites infect essentially all multi-cellular species, and considering their wide distribution and importance in shaping ecosystems, parasites are disproportionately understudied and not well understood. Many researchers make reference to the importance parasites have played in shaping primate evolutionary histories. However, parasites are usually not a primary topic of most primatological studies and are given only a brief mention.The major objective of this study is to understand the interplay between two species of primate hosts, ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) and Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), and the parasites they harbor in a natural setting at the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar. Under the auspices of this broad task are four specific goals. The first goal is to examine how each species' socioecology affects parasite type and prevalence, including seasonal fluctuations of parasites among each primate species. The second goal is to examine the behaviors that ring-tailed lemurs and Verreaux's sifaka utilize to potentially eliminate, avoid, or reduce parasite infections. The third goal is to determine how social rank and sex affects individual parasite prevalence for both species. Finally, this project seeks to understand how an anthropogenically-altered habitat affects all of these patterns. These goals will be achieved by utilizing ethological and parasitological methodologies. The broader impacts of this study can benefit the local Mahafaly people, and the ring-tailed lemurs and Verreaux's sifaka that live in and around the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve. Sympatric associations are becoming exceedingly prevalent as human populations grow and encroach on nonhuman primate habitats. Understanding the interactions between humans and their nonhuman primate counterparts are interesting from behavioral, epidemiological, evolutionary, ecological, and anthropological perspective. As the intimacy between humans and nonhuman primates increase, so does the likelihood of zoonotic transmissions, which can have devastating effects for humans and nonhuman primate alike. The intensity of such a scenario increases if this arena includes endangered species. The results of the proposed study will be helpful to the local Mahafaly people and our Malagasy collaborators. Local Mahafaly guides will be incorporated into this study, as their knowledge and expertise regarding the local ecology and landscape of this region is fundamental to the project's success. From an academic perspective, the researchers are committed to working with Malagasy collaborators on conservation initiatives and future publications. Investing in source-country scholars is extremely important for their future academic endeavors and the future of sustaining endemic animal and plant populations.