Adolescence in Wild Cebus Capucinus: Personality, Demography and Life History

该项目的目标是衡量野生卷尾猴（Cebus capucinus）的个性特征和早期经历对其青少年社会和繁殖成功的影响。尽管之前对其他物种的研究已经记录了这些影响，但没有一项研究将自由生活的年轻灵长类动物的性格特征、人口环境（例如，同性玩伴的数量）、亲属关系网络和婴儿期的社会发展结合起来。调查人员将在哥斯达黎加Lomas Barbudal及其附近对50只未成熟的卷尾猴进行超过6500小时的观察，并辅以30多名现场助理在整个2001-2006年期间连续对26个假设人格维度（例如冲动性）的个体进行评级。通过长期监测和粪便样本的DNA分析，已经知道了受试者及其同伴之间的遗传关系。在这个项目中，研究人员将对这些个体进行额外三年的观察，因为雌性会生育它们的第一个后代，而雄性会离开它们的出生群体，并试图加入另一个群体。研究人员将测试16种假设，这些假设将性格和/或早期经历与青少年成功的各种衡量标准联系起来。例如，他们预计不那么冲动和更外向的雄性更有可能成对或三人而不是单独迁移，而共同迁移的雄性比单独迁移的雄性更有可能在群体中获得较高的统治地位。他们还预测，与移民前的青春期男性相比，青春期女性的社交网络将更像她们母亲的社交网络。先前的研究表明，年幼的卷尾猴使用复杂的食物加工技术，部分是通过观察更有经验的个体来学习的。有几个假说与这种社会学习有关；例如，研究人员预测，生活在更大的社会群体中，花更多时间在其他猴子附近觅食的个体，将在更早的年龄获得觅食能力。他们还假设青少年将获得亲密伙伴所使用的特定食品加工技术。Lomas Barbudal猴子项目一直是许多年轻灵长类动物学家的重要培训机构，提供为期12个月的实习机会，实习生（通常是刚毕业的大学毕业生）在自然史、行为学数据收集和数据分析方面学到的东西比在野外学校可能学到的要多得多。仅在过去五年中，就有32名实习生在这里接受了培训。离开项目后，这些人在就业市场和获得全额资助进入他们首选的研究生课程方面都表现得非常好。大约三分之二的实习生是女性，其中一些是代表性不足的少数民族的成员。NSF对该提案的支持将为大约18名额外的人提供实习机会。此外，项目pi和实习生在哥斯达黎加开展环境教育项目，主要关注研究对象居住的森林附近社区的小学。项目pi作为哥斯达黎加野生动物管理局和其他当地保护机构的顾问，积极开展环境教育推广计划。

The goal of this project is to measure the effects of wild capuchin monkeys' (Cebus capucinus) personality traits and early experiences on their social and reproductive success as adolescents. Although previous research on other species has documented some of these effects, no study has combined measurement of free-living young primates' personality traits, demographic circumstances (e.g. number of available same-sex playmates), kinship networks, and social development from infancy. The investigators will build on more than 6,500 hours of observation on 50 immature capuchins in and near Lomas Barbudal, Costa Rica, supplemented by over 30 field assistants' ratings of individuals on 26 hypothesized personality dimensions (e.g. impulsivity) continuously covering the entire period 2001-2006. Genetic relationships among subjects and their groupmates are already known from long-term monitoring and from analyses of DNA from fecal samples. In this project, the investigators will observe these individuals for three additional years, as females bear their first offspring and males leave their birth group and try to join another group. The researchers will test 16 hypotheses linking personality and/or early experience to various measures of adolescent success. For example, they expect that less impulsive and more extraverted males will be more likely to migrate in pairs or trios rather than alone and that co-migrating males will be more likely than lone migrants to attain high dominance rank in their group. They also predict that, compared to pre-migrant adolescent males, adolescent females' social networks will resemble their mothers' social networks more strongly. Previous findings indicate that young capuchins use complex food-processing techniques that are learned partly by observing more experienced individuals. Several hypotheses pertain to such social learning; for example, the researchers predict that individuals that reside in larger social groups and that spend more time foraging near other monkeys will attain foraging competence at an earlier age. They also hypothesize that adolescents will acquire the specific food-processing techniques employed by their close associates. The Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project has been an important training facility for many young primatologists, offering internships usually lasting 12 months, in which the interns (typically recent university graduates) learn far more about natural history, ethological data collection, and data analysis than would be possible in a field school. In the past five years alone, 32 interns have been trained at the site. After leaving the project, these individuals have fared extremely well both on the job market and in obtaining fully funded admission to their top choice graduate programs. About two thirds of the interns have been women, and several have been members of underrepresented ethnic groups. NSF support of this proposal will provide internships to approximately 18 additional people. In addition, the project PIs and interns carry out environmental education programs within Costa Rica, focusing primarily on the elementary schools of communities adjacent to the forests where the study subjects live. The project PIs are active as consultants to the Costa Rican Wildlife Service and other local conservation agencies and are developing environmental education outreach programs.