Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The Ontogeny of Feeding Behavior in Nicaraguan Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta palliata)

这项研究的目的是确定食物的机械特性影响灵长类动物生长和发育的方式。 这项研究有助于确定为什么灵长类动物的发育期不同，并为人类发育延长提供了重要的见解。 通过一个完整的年度周期，PI将调查如何mantled吼猴（Alouatta palliata）居住在拉岛德奥梅特佩，尼加拉瓜发展饮食模式和觅食行为。 这项研究测试了预测资源韧性（材料对裂纹扩展的抵抗力）和行为因素（包括社会优势和觅食技能的发展）的假设，与成年人相比，青少年可以吃的食物范围缩小了。 量化成人和青少年消耗的资源的韧性将确定是否存在基于年龄的饮食韧性差异。 所有吼猴年龄/性别类别的喂养和社会行为收集的数据将表明青少年遭受饮食不足的程度，因为无论是社会排斥或减少觅食技能，或两者兼而有之。该项目的智力价值是其应用材料工程的概念，了解生物学的发展。 先前的研究表明，食物韧性是决定灵长类动物资源消耗的一个主要因素;然而，这些研究只关注成年人。 目前的研究增加了一个增长的组成部分，有关资源韧性和灵长类动物的摄食行为的研究。 幼年灵长类动物的觅食行为和饮食似乎与种群增长率密切相关，因此对幼年灵长类动物饮食的研究至关重要。 本研究调查青少年的饮食，以解释生活史策略，人口统计学模式和饮食机械性能之间的关系，这个项目的更广泛的影响，包括它的澄清影响青少年饮食的因素。 由于幼年时期的饮食对成年期有影响，这项研究直接应用于开发动物模型来评估营养需求。 与人类相比，吼猴的寿命相对较短，这意味着早期喂养成功对成年期的长期影响（如果有的话）最终可以评估。 此外，本次调查确定的资源至关重要的mantled吼的增长和发展，可用于实施成功的保护和生物多样性计划。 为了实现这些目标，这项研究涉及与哥伦比亚科学家的合作。 与这些科学家的合作使生物学研究在世界上一个关键但研究不足的领域得以扩展。

The goal of this research is to determine the ways that the mechanical properties of foods affect growth and development in primates. This research helps determine why developmental periods differ in primates, and it provides important insights into human developmental prolongation. Through an entire annual cycle, the PIs will investigate how mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) inhabiting La Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua develop dietary patterns and foraging behaviors. This research tests hypotheses predicting that both resource toughness (a material's resistance to crack propagation) and behavioral factors (including social dominance and the development of foraging skill) narrow the range of foods that juveniles can eat in comparison to adults. Quantifying the toughness of resources consumed by adults and juveniles will determine whether or not age-based differences in dietary toughness exist. Data collected on the feeding and social behaviors of all howler age/sex classes will indicate the degree to which juveniles suffer dietary deficiencies because of either social exclusion or reduced foraging skill, or both.The intellectual merit of this project is its application of materials engineering concepts to understanding the biology of development. Previous studies demonstrate that food toughness is a major factor determining primate resource consumption; however, these studies have focused only on adults. The present research adds a growth component to studies relating resource toughness and primate feeding behaviors. Investigations of juvenile diet are crucial because foraging behaviors and diets of young primates appear to correlate strongly with population growth rates. The present research investigates juvenile diet in order to explain the relationships among life history strategies, demographic patterns, and dietary mechanical properties.The broader impacts of this project include its clarification of the factors that influence juvenile diets. Because the diet consumed during juvenility has consequences for adulthood, this research has direct applications to developing animal models to assess nutritional requirements. The relatively short lifespan of howler monkeys relative to humans means that the long term effects of early life feeding success, if any, on adulthood can ultimately be assessed. Additionally, this investigation identifies the resources crucial to mantled howler growth and development and can be used to implement successful conservation and biodiversity programs. In order to achieve these goals, this study involves collaboration with Nicaraguan scientists. Collaborating with these scientists enables the expansion of biological research in a critical, yet understudied, area of the world.