Dissertation Research: Adaptive Significance of Male Parental Care in Tamarins (Saguinus geoffroyi)

合作行为是进化生物学中的一个重要问题，因为人们认为自然选择倾向于使个体基因传播最大化的行为。Geoffroy的绢毛猴（Saguinus geoffroyi）提供了这样一个行为的例子：在这种小型灵长类动物中，一个单一的繁殖雌性与两个雄性交配，产生一对异卵双胞胎，雄性合作照顾婴儿。护理主要包括携带这对体重为成人体重17%的双胞胎10周。考虑到雄性可能会照顾不属于自己的幼崽，而且这种照顾是如此昂贵，那么对帮助动物有什么好处呢？研究将把对野生绢毛猴群体的观察与DNA分析结合起来，以了解雄性护理与家庭关系和婴儿父亲关系的关系。这种方法将允许测试三个目前有争议的关于雄性亲代照顾的好处的假设：(i)通过后代的父权带来的直接好处；（ii）帮助亲属的间接好处；（iii）通过遗传繁殖位置带来的延迟好处。这个项目将测试灵长类系统中与人类相似的合作行为的假设，并可能为我们自己的合作行为的进化提供新的见解。关于这种濒危灵长类动物交配系统和生态的数据将有助于国际保护工作。目前的研究包括培训和指导巴拿马大学的学生。继续与地方当局和社区积极沟通，传播知识，并让更多市民参与保育工作。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室部分资助。

Cooperative behavior is an important question in evolutionary biology because natural selection is thought to favor behaviors that maximize the transmission of an individual's genes. Geoffroy's tamarin (Saguinus geoffroyi) provides an example of such behaviors: in this small primate a single breeding female mates with two males to produce fraternal twins and the males cooperate in caring for the infants. Care primarily consists of carrying the twins, which weigh 17% of adult body mass, for 10 weeks. Given that males may be caring for young that are not their own and such care is so costly, what are the benefits to the helping animal?Research will combine observations of wild tamarin groups with DNA analyses to understand how male care relates to family relationships and paternity of infants. This approach will allow testing of three currently debated hypotheses regarding the benefits of male parental care: (i) direct benefits through paternity of offspring (ii) indirect benefits of helping kin (iii) delayed benefits via inheritance of a breeding position.This project will test hypotheses regarding cooperative behavior in a primate system that has shown similarities to humans and may provide new insights into the evolution of our own cooperative behavior. Data on the mating system and ecology of this endangered primate will assist international conservation efforts. Research currently involves training and mentoring of students in the University of Panama. Active communication with local authorities and communities is maintained to disseminate knowledge and involve the greater public in conservation. This project is funded in part by the Office of International Science and Engineering.