Energetic Costs of Feeding in Primates

本研究的重点是收集灵长类动物摄食能量成本的新数据，以在基于实验室的摄食器官功能形态学研究与灵长类动物摄食生态学和生活史研究之间建立新的联系。这项研究为新的研究提供了基础，旨在以一种跨越生物人类学多个学科的方式将进化形态学与灵长类生态学和生活史联系起来。研究结果将放在进化的背景下，通过评估它们对解释灵长目化石的饮食和摄食生态的影响，特别是在人类进化过程中。除了培训研究生和本科生外，这项研究还将以教育推广为优先事项，并将通过在当地科学博览会和K-12教室的演讲进行。取食的生物力学和生态学为理解灵长类动物的适应和进化提供了基础数据。然而，缺乏关于进食能量成本的比较数据集是一个主要的知识缺口，这限制了我们理解进食过程中发生的生物力学事件和生态环境中影响进食的选择压力的能力。呼吸测量法是一种非侵入性技术，用于测量动物在休息或活动时的能量消耗（氧气的使用和二氧化碳的产生）。研究人员同时收集了包括人类在内的14种灵长类动物摄食过程中的呼吸测量数据和数字视频记录。数据还收集了六种食物的摄食过程中，包括灵长类动物的饮食范围。根据这些数据，将量化饲养的能量成本。六个具体目标解决了摄食对灵长类动物活动预算的影响，并解决了基于能量学的关键问题，即饮食、摄食装置结构和摄食过程中这些结构的功能之间的关系。研究结果将为食料生物力学与食料生态学、生物能量学和生活史的联系提供新的数据。明确的假设涉及尺度、解剖变异和食物材料特性的影响，以及框架结构-功能-行为问题，这些问题与生态和生活史变量有关，以一种跨越多个科学学科的方式。该物种样本的主要优势在于其在系统发育、饮食（食虫动物、成熟水果专家、食叶动物和杂食动物）和体型方面的广泛范围。结合通常保存在化石记录中的解剖特征，为包括人类化石在内的灵长类动物化石的摄食生态和能量收支提供了新的解释。

This research focuses on collecting novel data on the energetic costs of feeding in primates to generate new connections between lab-based studies of the functional morphology of the feeding apparatus and studies of primate feeding ecology and life history. This study provides a foundation for new research aimed at linking evolutionary morphology to primate ecology and life history in a way that cuts across multiple disciplines within biological anthropology. Results will be placed in an evolutionary context by evaluating their implications for the interpretation of diet and feeding ecology in fossil primates and, specifically, during human evolution. In addition to training graduate and undergraduate students, this research will have educational outreach as a priority and will occur through presentations at local science fairs and in K-12 classrooms. The biomechanics and ecology of feeding provide fundamental data for understanding primate adaptation and evolution. However, the lack of a comparative dataset on the energetic costs of feeding is a major gap in knowledge that limits our ability to understand the biomechanical events that occur during feeding and the selective pressures that influence feeding in an ecological context. Respirometry is a non-invasive technique that measures the energetic costs (the use of oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide) an animal incurs while at rest or performing activities. Respirometry data are collected simultaneously with digital video recordings of behaviors during feeding in fourteen primate species, including humans. Data are also collected during feeding on six food types that encompass the range of primate diets. From these data, the energetic costs of feeding will be quantified. Six specific aims address the impact of feeding on the activity budgets of primates and address key energetics-based questions about the relationship between diet, structures of the feeding apparatus, and the functions of these structures during feeding. The results will generate new data for connecting feeding biomechanics with feeding ecology, bio-energetics, and life history. Explicit hypotheses concern effects of scale, anatomical variation, and food material properties and frame structure-function-behavior questions about the feeding apparatus in relation to ecological and life history variables in a way that cuts across multiple scientific disciplines. The main strength of the species sample is its broad range in terms of phylogeny, diet (insectivores, ripe fruit specialists, folivores and omnivores), and body size. The incorporation of anatomical traits that are commonly preserved in the fossil record provides the potential for new interpretations of the feeding ecology and energy budgets of fossil primates, including fossil humans.