Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Reproductive Competition in Female Sanje Mangabeys

本研究将调查坦桑尼亚Udzungwa山脉野生种群Sanje白眉猴（Cercocebus sanjei）中雌性对配偶的竞争。这项研究将解决两个主要问题。首先，是否有些女性比其他女性更能实现自己的生殖目标，即在受孕时与自己喜欢的男性交配，同时阻止其他女性这样做？第二，如果是这样的话，是通过什么方法实现的？为了回答这些问题，对性和社会行为的行为观察将与通过分析粪便样本收集的卵巢激素数据相结合。这种独特的行为和内分泌数据的双面方法将提供必要的信息，以确定女性和男性在应对女性生殖状态变化时的行为差异。已有的理论认为，女性在性方面的竞争力不如男性。因此，大多数关于性竞争的研究都集中在男性行为上。然而，雌性在繁殖（例如怀孕和哺乳）方面投入最多，雄性通常只提供精子，很少或根本不提供后代照顾。因此，雌性要想繁殖成功，即让后代存活到成熟；它们必须花费大量的精力来照顾后代或从其他群体成员（如成年雄性）那里获得额外的支持，例如获取食物。为了确保得到这样的支持，雌性可能不得不竞争获得首选配偶的机会。据推测，雌性会更喜欢并竞争那些能给自己和后代带来最大利益的雄性，而与此同时，雌性的乱交混淆了父权，这已被证明会鼓励其他雄性的帮助，并阻止它们杀婴。然而，目前尚不清楚雌性在多大程度上争夺配偶，以及这对雌性繁殖有什么影响。这个项目的智力价值包括提供了一个更好的理解调节女性-女性和男性-女性社会关系的因素，并有助于更精确地理解潜在的社会变量。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括通过提供(a)生殖率数据来帮助保护濒临灭绝的桑杰白眉猴，这对制定适当的管理计划至关重要；(b)长期持续的研究存在，这是对偷猎和非法活动的重要威慑；(c)坦桑尼亚外地助理的就业和培训。这项研究也将有助于培养一名研究生，作为其博士论文研究的一部分。

This research will investigate female competition over mates in a wild population of Sanje mangabeys (Cercocebus sanjei), in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. This study will address two major questions. First, are some females better able than others to enact their reproductive goals, i.e. mating with preferred males at times of conception while preventing other females from doing so? Second, if so, by what methods is this achieved? To answer these questions, behavioral observations on sexual and social behavior will be combined with data on ovarian hormones gathered through analysis of fecal samples. This unique double-sided approach of behavioral and endocrinological data will provide the information necessary to identify differences in female, as well as male, behavior in response to changes in female reproductive state. Established theory views females as less sexually competitive than males. As a result, most studies of sexual competition focus on male behavior. It is females, however, that invest most heavily in reproduction (e.g., gestation and lactation), with males generally contributing only sperm, providing little or no offspring care. Consequently, for females to be reproductively successful, i.e., have offspring survive to maturity; they must expend significant energy to care for offspring or receive supplemental support, e.g., access to food, from other group members, such as adult males. To ensure such support is provided, females may have to compete over access to preferred mates. It is expected that a female will prefer and compete over the male(s) that provide the greatest benefits to her and her offspring, while at the same time mating promiscuously to confuse paternity, which has been shown to encourage aid and discourage infanticide from other males. It remains unclear, however, to what degree females compete over access to mates, and what impact this has on female reproduction. The intellectual merits of this project include providing a better understanding of the factors regulating female-female and male-female social relationships, and contributing to a more refined understanding of the variables underlying sociality. The broader impacts of this study include aiding in the conservation of the endangered Sanje mangabey by providing (a) data on reproductive rates, essential to the development of appropriate management plans; (b) long-term continued research presence, an important deterrent to poaching and illegal activities; and (c) employment and training for Tanzanian field assistants. This study will also contribute to the training of a graduate student as part of his doctoral dissertation research.