Longitudinal Investigation of Maternal Influences on Infant Outcomes Mediated by Physiological Investment and Behavioral Care during Lactation in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。对灵长类母体投资策略的研究主要集中在哺乳期雌性及其婴儿的行为上，记录了哺乳的频率、邻近维持和断奶的动态。到目前为止，人们对母体投资的主要形式--母乳合成知之甚少。这个项目将解决两个重要的问题：(1)母体状况和生活史的权衡如何影响哺乳投资和随后的生殖；(2)哺乳期投资的差异如何影响婴儿的发育轨迹？对母亲内部和母亲之间哺乳表现的纵向比较，以及对婴儿生长和行为发育的影响，将展示母亲如何根据自己和婴儿的生理和社会状况来操纵投资。这项研究项目将提供第一个系统的、纵向的信息，调查单一物种内哺乳动物哺乳策略的所有方面(乳汁合成、哺乳行为、哺乳到断奶的持续时间，以及在哺乳期间得到支持的婴儿数量和性别比)。因此，这项研究将探索以前没有被研究过的哺乳的基本方面，并增进我们对选择如何在一个以缓慢生活史和复杂的社会组织为特征的物种中形成母体投资策略的理解。此外，这项研究的更广泛影响是巨大的。这项研究的数据将直接解决影响人类母亲及其婴儿健康的关键问题。美国和世界各地的母乳喂养率明显低于最佳水平，这对婴儿的发育和健康造成了长期有害的影响。在受控研究条件下，了解哺乳期间的限制如何影响母乳的营养价值以及对婴儿的后果方面的进展，将为人类母亲面临类似挑战提供见解。这项研究将以存档牛奶样本和公共数据库的形式，为其他从最终和近距离角度研究婴儿发育的研究人员提供宝贵的资源。最后，这项拟议的研究将纳入加州大学戴维斯分校和加州国家灵长类研究中心的培训计划。该奖项将为一名年轻的女性新研究员提供部分博士后水平的支持，并雇用一名全职技术员、一名半职技术员和一名本科生。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Studies of maternal investment strategies in primates have focused mainly on the behavior of lactating females and their infants, documenting the frequency of suckling, proximity maintenance, and the dynamics of weaning. To date little is known about the primary form of maternal investment; milk synthesis. This project will address two important questions: (1) How do maternal condition and life history tradeoffs affect lactational investment and subsequent reproduction and (2) How do differences in lactational investment influence infant developmental trajectories? Longitudinal comparisons of lactation performance within and among mothers, and the consequences for infant growth and behavioral development, will demonstrate how mothers manipulate investment in relation to their own, and their infant's, physiological and social condition. This research project will provide the first systematic, longitudinal information investigating all dimensions of mammalian lactation strategies within a single species (milk synthesis, nursing behavior, duration of lactation until weaning, and number and sex-ratio of infants supported during lactation). As such this study will explore fundamental aspects of lactation that have previously not been investigated, and advance our understanding of how selection has shaped maternal investment strategies in a species characterized by a slow life history and complex social organization. Moreover the broader impacts of this research are substantial. The data from this study will directly address critical issues affecting the health of human mothers and their infants. Breastfeeding rates in the US and throughout the world are significantly below optimum, contributing to long-term deleterious developmental and health consequences for infants. Advances in understanding how constraints during lactation influence the nutritional value of the mother's milk and the consequences for infants, under controlled research conditions, will provide insights into similar challenges for human mothers. This research will provide valuable resources, in the form of archived milk samples and public databases, for other researchers studying infant development from ultimate and proximate perspectives. Lastly, the proposed study will incorporate training programs at UC Davis and the California National Primate Research Center. The award will provide partial post-doctoral level support for a young female new investigator as well as employ one full-time technician, one half-time technician, and one undergraduate.