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（分散）是很常见的，但分散的进化原因还不完全清楚。灵长类动物在散布方面表现出高度的种间和种内变异，并且与不熟悉的地点和/或攻击性竞争者相关的成本。许多试图解释扩散演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。更好地理解社会和交配系统如何影响和受传播模式的影响，对于理解灵长类动物（包括人类）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动物在社会一夫一妻制猴子物种中的扩散。这项研究是猫头鹰猴项目（OMP）的一部分，该项目是一项长期计划，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，合作PI将研究遗传，内分泌和行为的相关性，在自由放养，社会一夫一妻制的猫头鹰猴的阿根廷查科的传播。该项目将通过对个体进行遗传抽样，在社区一级探索扩散，并通过检查亚成年雄性和雌性的激素和行为，在社会群体一级探索扩散。具体来说，它将利用基因型数据从约250猫头鹰猴，行为数据从22 predispersing亚成体，类固醇激素数据从约1000粪便样本，以解决目前的争论交配系统和扩散之间的关系，通过评估近亲繁殖和竞争回避假说。这些遗传、行为和激素数据也将被用来评估在可能存在不同数量近亲的群体中延迟扩散的成本和收益。该项目的遗传数据也有很大的潜力来阐明一个两性分散的物种如何利用每种性别分散的平均距离的差异来避免近亲繁殖的潜在成本。独特的多层次的方法和综合性的研究纳塔尔分散在一个社会一夫一妻制的物种有可能照亮的起源，分散和交配模式的灵长类动物，包括人类。

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.