Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The effects of Land Use Practices on the Socioecology of the Olive Baboon and Human-Baboon Interactions

本研究将通过解决有关狒狒行为和人类狒狒互动的问题，阐明影响灵长类动物社会行为进化的力量。研究的第一个方面将检验基于社会行为与生态学相关的理论，通过研究灵长类动物的社会行为在食物资源分配和人类土地利用实践引起的捕食压力变化的情况下的变化。这将通过回答两个相关的问题来实现——狒狒如何改变社会行为以应对1)人类对其栖息地的改变和2)人类对捕食风险的改变？该研究的第二个方面将检验预测人类文化信仰和习俗如何影响人类与狒狒互动的理论。这方面的研究将通过解决以下问题，纳入不同的人类文化土地利用实践如何影响人类与狒狒的关系：在不同的土地利用系统中，人们对狒狒的价值观是什么，以及这些价值观如何反过来影响人类与狒狒的互动，同时共享相同的环境？这项研究将在肯尼亚的莱基皮亚区进行，为期18个月。狒狒的社会行为将在10分钟的焦点样本中被记录下来，而人类与狒狒的互动数据将通过半结构化和结构化访谈进行。该项目旨在研究橄榄狒狒对特定类型环境变化的反应，这将为该物种如何适应狒狒和人类共存的栖息地可能发生的变化提供见解。此外，了解当地人如何看待和与狒狒和其他野生动物互动，可以为评估是否可以鼓励当地社区做出旨在促进人类与狒狒共存的土地利用决策提供一种手段。这项研究还将对野生动物管理和保护实践作出实际贡献，并有助于培训一名肯尼亚女研究生。

This study will clarify the forces that influenced the evolution of primate social behavior by addressing questions regarding baboon behavior and human-baboon interactions. The first aspect of the research will test theories that are based on social behavior in relation to ecology by examining variation in primate social behavior given changes in food resource distribution and predation pressure arising from human land use practices. This will be achieved by answering two related questions -- how do baboons modify social behavior in response to 1) human alterations of their habitats and 2) human changes in predation risk? The second aspect of the study will test theories that predict how human cultural beliefs and practices influence human-baboon interactions. This aspect of the study will incorporate how different human cultural land use practices influence the relationships humans have with baboons by addressing the following questions: In the different land use systems, what are people's values towards baboons, and how do these values, in turn, influence human-baboon interactions while sharing the same environment? The study will take place in Laikipia District, Kenya for 18 months. Baboon social behavior will be recorded during ten minute focal samples while data on human-baboon interaction will be conducted using semi- structured and structured interviews. This project seeks to examine the olive baboon's response to particular types of environmental changes which will provide insights on how this species adapts to changes that are likely to occur in habitats where baboons and people coexist. Furthermore, understanding how local people view and interact with baboons and other wildlife provides a means of evaluating whether local communities can be encouraged to make land use decisions aimed at facilitating the human-baboon coexistence. This research will also yield practical contributions to wildlife management and conservation practices as well as contribute to the training of a female Kenyan graduate student.