Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Endocrine and Behavioral Correlates of Female Social Dominance in Eulemur

博士论文改进：Eulemur 中女性社会主导地位的内分泌和行为相关性

• 批准号: 1341150
• 负责人: Christine Drea
• 金额: $ 2.36万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1341150&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Endocrine; Behavioral

Female social dominance (FSD) over males characterizes most Malagasy lemurs, which represent almost 30% of all primates; yet, little is known about the evolution or mechanism of this unusual phenomenon. Associated with FSD is a suite of behavioral, physiological, and morphological traits in females that implicates (as a possible mechanism) 'masculinization' via androgen exposure. In light of this association, this project by doctoral student Joseph Petty (Duke University), under the guidance of Dr. Christine Drea, takes a comparative and integrative approach to investigating the role of the neuroendocrine system, particularly androgens, in regulating FSD in lemurs. Studying mixed-sex pairs of six closely related Eulemur species that express a gradient of behavioral variation, from aggressive FSD to co-dominance between the sexes, this project will characterize the expression of intersexual dominance, affiliation, and aggression for each species. It will further provide novel information about the neuroendocrine correlates of behavior through the analysis of blood samples for the steroid hormones androstenedione (A4), testosterone (T), and estradiol (E2), as well as the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT). Lastly, to provide evidence of a direct causal linkage across species between behavior associated with FSD and neuroendocrine networks, the endocrine system will be experimentally manipulated, using a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist (antide), to assess the behavioral and social effects on masculinized behavior in female lemurs.This project's unique comparative and experimental perspective will provide an increased understanding of the evolution of female dominance in primate social systems, as well as insight into the direct activational role of naturally circulating hormones in the regulation of female behavior. Its nontraditional focus has the potential to help update current definitions of sexual selection to better reflect the importance of intrasexual competition in females and to transform current understanding of the proximate mechanisms that underlie the physiology and expression of social dominance.This project will be conducted at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, NC, where it provides opportunities for collaborations with research, technical, and educational staff. Through these collaborations, this project facilitates mentorship of undergraduate researchers, dissemination of information relevant to lemur biology and conservation, public outreach, and hands-on science experience for children.

雌性狐猴对雄性狐猴的社会优势(FSD)是大多数马达加斯加狐猴的特征，它们几乎占所有灵长类动物的30%；然而，人们对这种不寻常现象的进化或机制知之甚少。与FSD相关的是女性的一系列行为、生理和形态特征，这些特征暗示(作为一种可能的机制)通过雄激素暴露而产生的“男性化”。鉴于这种联系，这项由博士研究生Joseph Petty(杜克大学)在Christine Drea博士的指导下，采用比较和综合的方法来研究神经内分泌系统，特别是雄激素，在调节狐猴FSD方面的作用。这个项目研究了六个关系密切的欧拉穆族物种的混合性别对，这些物种表现出行为变异的梯度，从攻击性的FSD到两性之间的共同优势，这个项目将表征每个物种的两性优势、从属关系和攻击性的表现。它将通过对血液样本中类固醇激素雄烯二酮(A4)、睾酮(T)和雌二醇(E2)以及神经递质5-羟色胺(5-HT)的分析，进一步提供与行为有关的神经内分泌相关的新信息。最后，为了提供与FSD相关的行为和神经内分泌网络之间跨物种直接因果联系的证据，将使用促性腺激素释放激素拮抗剂(ANTID)对内分泌系统进行实验操作，以评估行为和社会对雌性狐猴雄性行为的影响。该项目独特的比较和实验视角将提供更多关于雌性在灵长类社会系统中优势地位的进化的理解，以及对自然循环激素在调节雌性行为中的直接激活作用的洞察。它的非传统关注有可能帮助更新性选择的现有定义，以更好地反映女性性内竞争的重要性，并改变目前对构成社会支配地位的生理和表现的最接近机制的理解。该项目将在北卡罗来纳州达勒姆的杜克狐猴中心进行，在那里它提供与研究、技术和教育人员合作的机会。通过这些合作，该项目促进了对本科生研究人员的指导，传播与狐猴生物学和保护相关的信息，促进公众宣传，并为儿童提供实践科学体验。