Doctoral Dissertation Research: Leaving home: genetic, endocrine, and behavioral correlates of dispersal in monogamous monkeys

在一些灵长类物种中，个体离开出生的群体加入不同的群体(扩散)是很常见的，但扩散的进化原因并不完全清楚。灵长类动物在扩散方面表现出高度的种间和种内差异，而且与不熟悉的地点和/或咄咄逼人的竞争对手相关的成本也很高。许多试图解释扩散进化的模型都提出了扩散模式、交配系统和生活史特征之间的紧密联系。更好地了解社会和交配系统如何影响和受扩散模式的影响，对于理解包括人类在内的灵长类动物的社会和交配系统的进化至关重要。这个项目将使用非侵入性收集的遗传和激素数据来研究灵长类在社会性一夫一妻制猴子物种中的扩散。这项研究是猫头鹰猴子项目(OMP)的一部分，OMP是一项长期倡议，旨在促进阿根廷查科的研究、保护和教育。更广泛的影响包括在STEM领域培训一名女研究生和本科生，以及支持美国和阿根廷之间的国际合作。在本论文项目中，该合作项目将研究阿根廷查科自由放养、社会性一夫一妻制猫头鹰猴子的遗传、内分泌和行为相关性。该项目将通过对个体进行遗传抽样来探索社区层面的传播，并通过检查未成年男性和女性的荷尔蒙和行为来探索社会群体层面的传播。具体地说，它将利用来自大约250只猫头鹰猴子的基因数据，来自22个预分散亚成体的行为数据，以及来自大约1000个粪便样本的类固醇激素数据，通过评估近亲繁殖和竞争避免假说来解决目前关于交配系统和分散之间的关系的争论。这些遗传、行为和荷尔蒙数据也将被用来评估在可能存在数量可变的近亲群体中延迟扩散的成本和好处。来自该项目的遗传数据也有很强的潜力来阐明两性分散物种如何利用每一性别分散的平均距离的差异来避免近亲繁殖的潜在成本。这项关于社会性一夫一妻制物种出生扩散的研究具有独特的多层次方法和综合性质，有可能解释包括人类在内的结对灵长类动物出生扩散和交配模式的起源。

In some primate species, it is common for individuals to leave the group in which they were born to join a different group (dispersal), but the evolutionary reasons dispersal are not completely understood. Primates exhibit high levels of inter- and intra-specific variation in dispersal, and there are costs associated with unfamiliar locations and/or aggressive competitors. Many models attempting to explain the evolution of dispersal have proposed a tight link among dispersal patterns, mating systems, and life history traits. Developing a better understanding of how social and mating systems influence and are influenced by dispersal patterns is essential for understanding the evolution of social and mating systems in primates, including humans. This project will study primate dispersal in a socially monogamous monkey species using genetic and hormone data collected non-invasively. This research is part of the Owl Monkey Project (OMP), a long-term initiative to promote research, conservation, and education in the Argentinean Chaco. Broader impacts include training of a female graduate student and undergraduate students in a STEM field, and support of international collaborations between the US and Argentina. In this dissertation project, the co-PI will examine genetic, endocrine, and behavioral correlates of dispersal in free-ranging, socially monogamous owl monkeys of the Argentinean Chaco. The project will explore dispersal at the level of the community by genetically sampling individuals, and at the level of the social group by examining hormones and behavior in subadult males and females. Specifically, it will utilize genotype data from ~250 owl monkeys, behavioral data from 22 predispersing subadults, and steroid hormone data from ~1000 fecal samples to address current debates over the relationships between mating system and dispersal by evaluating inbreeding and competition avoidance hypotheses. These genetic, behavioral, and hormonal data will also be used to evaluate the costs and benefits of delaying dispersal in groups where a variable number of close kin may be present. Genetic data from this project also have strong potential to elucidate how a bisexually dispersing species may utilize differences in the average distance dispersed by each sex to avoid potential costs of inbreeding. The unique multi-level approach and integrative nature of this study of natal dispersal in a socially monogamous species has potential to illuminate the origins of dispersal and mating patterns in pair-bonded primates, including humans.