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

该项目的目标是测量野生卷尾猴(Cebus Capucinus)的个性特征和早期经历对其青少年时期社会和生殖成功的影响。尽管之前对其他物种的研究已经记录了其中的一些影响，但还没有研究结合测量自由生活的年轻灵长类动物的个性特征、人口统计情况(例如，可用的同性玩伴数量)、亲属关系网络和从婴儿期开始的社会发展。调查人员将对哥斯达黎加洛马斯巴布达岛及其附近的50只未成熟卷尾猴进行超过6,500个小时的观察，并在2001年至2006年整个期间连续对30多名外勤助理在26个假设人格维度(例如冲动)上对个人进行评级。通过长期监测和对粪便样本的DNA分析，已经知道受试者和他们的同组成员之间的遗传关系。在这个项目中，研究人员将对这些个体再观察三年，因为雌性会生下他们的第一个后代，而雄性会离开出生的群体，试图加入另一个群体。研究人员将测试16个假设，将个性和/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徙，共同迁徙的雄性比单独迁徙的雄性更有可能在他们的群体中获得更高的支配地位。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类似于她们母亲的社交网络。先前的发现表明，年轻的卷尾猴使用复杂的食物处理技术，部分是通过观察更有经验的人来学习的。有几个假设与这种社会学习有关；例如，研究人员预测，居住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，青少年会掌握他们的亲密伙伴所使用的特定食品加工技术。洛马斯巴布达尔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，提供通常为期12个月的实习机会，实习生(通常是新近毕业的大学毕业生)在实习期间学到的自然历史、行为学数据收集和数据分析方面的知识比野外学校要多得多。仅在过去五年里，就有32名实习生在该网站接受了培训。离开该项目后，这些人在就业市场和获得全额资金进入他们最受欢迎的研究生项目方面都表现得非常好。大约三分之二的实习生是女性，有几个人是代表人数不足的民族。NSF对这项提议的支持将为大约18人提供实习机会。此外，个人投资促进机构和实习生项目在哥斯达黎加开展环境教育方案，主要侧重于研究对象居住的森林附近社区的小学。PIs项目积极担任哥斯达黎加野生动物服务机构和其他地方保护机构的顾问，并正在制定环境教育推广计划。

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.