Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: A Behavioral and Genetic Study of Color Vision Polymorphism in Squirrel Monkeys

本研究的目的是探讨南美松鼠猴（Saimiri sciureus）的色觉系统的种内变异，松鼠猴是新大陆灵长类（Platyrrhini）的模式分类群。 与非洲和亚洲灵长类动物不同，新世界灵长类动物通常不具备三色色觉。 大多数新大陆灵长类独特视觉系统的遗传机制允许一些雌性拥有三色视觉，而其他雌性（和所有雄性）无法在视觉上区分红色和绿色。 有人假设三色视的个体更能在绿色背景下发现水果，但也有人假设二色视的个体更能发现隐藏的、隐藏的物体。 本研究项目将通过比较收集的野生松鼠猴群体觅食和捕食者回避行为数据与研究群体内所有焦点动物色觉状态的遗传数据来评估这些假设，这些数据是使用从非侵入性收集的粪便样本中提取的DNA对其X连锁视蛋白等位基因进行基因分型收集的。 此外，在收集行为数据的同时，研究人员还将通过在喂食平台上进行的一系列实验，进一步探索色觉状态个体差异的重要性。这些实验旨在解决动物在解决觅食问题和检测捕食者时使用颜色线索的问题。这项研究是首次对野生灵长类动物进行的全面行为遗传学研究之一。 该项目的智力价值是，它将测试，在野生条件下，几个明确的假设，关于可能的适应意义的三色与二色的色觉解决觅食问题，避免捕食，使研究界更接近解释为什么色觉多态性已保持了这么长的时间在大多数宽鼻谱系。 这些数据也将被用来更好地了解灵长类动物色觉的分子进化。这项研究的更广泛的影响是，它将有助于对同域亚马逊灵长类动物的比较行为生物学进行长期调查，该调查由共同PI Di Fiore在厄瓜多尔的Tiputini生物多样性站进行，并有助于保护亚马逊森林地区的努力。 此外，它将促进共同PI蒙塔古的专业发展和研究生培训，他将在纽约大学分子人类学实验室培训其他研究生和本科生方面发挥重要作用，并将为共同PI蒙塔古在实地与厄瓜多尔和其他国际热带生物学专家进行专业互动提供便利。

The goal of this project is to investigate intraspecific variation in the color vision system of South American squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus), a model taxon of New World primate (Platyrrhini). Unlike African and Asian primates, New World primates do not routinely possess trichromatic color vision. The genetic mechanisms that underlie the unique visual systems of most New World primate genera allow some females to possess trichromatic vision while other females (and all males) cannot visually differentiate red from green. It has been hypothesized that trichromatic individuals are better equipped to detect fruit against a green background, yet it has also been hypothesized that dichromatic individuals are more capable of detecting cryptic, camouflaged objects. This research project will evaluate these hypotheses by comparing behavioral data on foraging and predator avoidance collected on a wild population of squirrel monkeys with genetic data on the color vision status of all focal animals within the study population gleaned from genotyping their X-linked opsin alleles using DNA extracted from non-invasively collected fecal samples. Additionally, while collecting behavioral data, the investigators will further explore the significance of individual variation in color vision status through a series of experiments at feeding platforms that are designed to address the animals' use of color cues in solving foraging problems and detecting predators.This study represents one of the first comprehensive behavioral genetic studies undertaken with a wild population of primates. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will test, under wild conditions, several explicit hypotheses concerning the possible adaptive significance of trichromatic versus dichromatic color vision for solving foraging problems and for avoiding predation, with the aim of bringing the research community closer to an explanation as to why color vision polymorphism has been maintained over such a long period of time among most platyrrhine lineages. These data will also be used to better understand the molecular evolution of primate color vision.The broader impact of this study is that it will contribute to an ongoing long-term investigation on the comparative behavioral biology of sympatric Amazonian primates at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Ecuador run by co-PI Di Fiore and assist in efforts at protecting forested areas in the Amazon. Additionally, it will foster the professional development and graduate training of co-PI Montague, who will be instrumental in training other graduate students and undergraduates in New York University's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, and it will provide for co-PI Montague's professional interaction with Ecuadorian and other international experts in tropical biology while in the field.