The geometry of nutritional niche separation among forest monkeys

研究当今的灵长类群落可以帮助我们了解它们在进化过程中是如何形成和维持的。充足的营养对生存和繁殖至关重要。这项研究的目的是了解猴子如何在共享同一雨林栖息地的情况下满足它们的营养需求。杰西卡·罗斯曼博士和她的团队将研究四种猴子的饮食和营养，并绘制乌干达基巴莱国家公园树木营养分布图。这项研究将测试有助于理解他们不同营养目标的假设。例如，研究人员将测试一个假设，即不同种类的猴子以不同的方式平衡碳水化合物、脂肪、蛋白质、矿物质和毒素的摄入，这使得它们能够在同一个栖息地共同生存。该研究将应用于灵长类动物进化的场景和影响灵长类动物保护的管理策略。几名STEM专业的研究生和本科生将参与本研究。他们将观察野生灵长类动物，学习生态野外方法，并接受近红外光谱、营养建模和植物分析方面的培训。这次培训将为他们提供在世界上灵长类动物密度最高的热带雨林中的独特国际经验。他们将与来自悉尼大学的营养建模师罗斯曼博士以及乌干达野生动物管理局的保护管理人员一起工作。研究小组还将在布朗克斯的一所中学举办关于生态和保护的实践研讨会，否则学生们几乎没有机会接触大自然。本研究为了解灵长类动物群落功能生态位分离的机制提供了新的途径，并在营养水平上考察了物种间性状的差异。利用营养的几何框架，新的假设将被测试，这些假设与基巴莱（Kibale）的同域猴子营养目标的差异有关，基巴莱是非洲热带雨林，具有丰富的研究历史，拥有高密度的灵长类动物。通过本研究，将全面考察同域灵长类动物的营养生态，揭示它们的营养平衡模式。研究人员将对单个猴子进行摄食观察，通过近红外反射光谱分析每只灵长类动物栖息地内每棵树上的营养物质来评估食物的可用性，并利用营养的几何框架来检验关于灵长类动物摄食生态和营养目标的假设。通过这项研究，研究小组将制定灵长类动物行会之间和行会内部营养策略的一般原则，并通过揭示营养生态学在生态位分离中的重要性，为灵长类动物生态学提供新的见解，这是灵长类动物群落生态学中一个未被充分研究和认识的维度。

Studying present-day primate communities can help us to understand how they were shaped and maintained through evolutionary time. Adequate nutrition is critical for survival and reproduction. The goal of this research is to understand how monkeys meet their nutritional needs while sharing the same rainforest habitat. Dr. Jessica Rothman and her team will study the diet and nutrition of four monkey species and map the nutrients in trees in Kibale National Park, Uganda. The research will test hypotheses that will help understand their divergent nutritional goals. For example the researchers will test the hypothesis that different species of monkeys balance their intake of carbohydrates, fats, protein, minerals and toxins in different ways, which allows them to survive together in the same habitat. The research will be applied to scenarios of primate evolution and management strategies that affect primate conservation. Several graduate students and undergraduate minority students in STEM will participate in this research. They will observe wild primates, learn ecological field methods, and be trained in near infrared spectroscopy, nutritional modeling and plant analysis. This training will provide them with a unique international experience in a rainforest that hosts some of the highest densities of primates in the world. They will work alongside Dr. Rothman, a nutritional modeler from the University of Sydney, and conservation managers in the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The research team will also lead hands-on workshops on ecology and conservation at a Bronx middle school where students would otherwise have little opportunity to engage with nature. This research takes a new approach to understand mechanisms that promote functional niche separation in primate communities, and examines species-level differences in traits at the nutritional level. Using the geometric framework of nutrition, novel hypotheses will be tested that are related to the divergence of nutritional goals of sympatric monkeys in Kibale, an African rainforest with a rich history of research that hosts a high density of primates. Through this research, the nutritional ecology of sympatric primate species will be comprehensively examined, and their patterns of nutrient balancing will be revealed. The researchers will conduct feeding observations of individual monkeys, assess food availability by analyzing the nutrients in every tree in each primate's home range via near infrared reflectance spectroscopy, and use the geometric framework of nutrition to test hypotheses about primate feeding ecology and nutritional goals. Through this research the research team will formulate general principles about the nutritional strategies among and within primate guilds and provide new insights into primate ecology by shedding light on the significance of nutritional ecology in niche separation, a previously understudied and under-recognized dimension of primate community ecology.