Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mating strategies and reproductive endocrinology of female primates

灵长类动物的雌性配偶选择有时被雄性竞争的研究所掩盖，竞争是影响灵长类动物生殖行为模式的主要选择压力。本博士论文项目将探讨野生毛猴（一种群居的新热带灵长类动物）的雌性配偶选择，其中雌性选择被假设为一种特别重要的选择形式。该研究首次从明确的雌性选择角度研究了新热带灵长类动物的雌性生殖策略。它将包括评估与生育状况相关的女性行为变化，扩大我们对女性选择生物学的认识，并为人类的配偶选择提供一个比较的灵长类模型。该项目将支持美国学生的研究培训和指导、国际合作的发展、公共科学推广和灵长类动物保护工作。对灵长类动物生殖行为模式的研究多集中在雄性竞争和雌性胁迫等雄性策略上，而对雌性配偶选择的研究较少。在低雄性竞争和低雄性对雌性攻击的灵长类物种中，如长毛猴，雌性的交配决定可能比其他灵长类类群更少受到约束，雌性可能有更多的机会主动选择配偶。该项目将专门研究女性生殖周期中生育能力和受孕可能性的变化如何影响她们的交配率、伴侣数量和身份，以及对男性的交配相关行为的指导。研究人员将结合行为学、内分泌学和遗传学的方法，对四组野生毛猴进行研究。该项目将探索女性对特定男性的选择是否取决于(1)男性的身体特征，(2)男女关系，(3)MHC差异，(4)遗传亲缘程度，并将检查这些偏好是否根据决定女性生育能力的卵巢激素的周期性变化而变化。最终，这项工作的结果可能会为研究交配系统是如何被女性的决定和行为所塑造提供新的见解。

Female mate choice in primates is sometimes overshadowed by studies of male-male contest competition as the predominant selective pressure influencing patterns of reproductive behaviors in primates. This doctoral dissertation project will explore female mate choice in wild woolly monkeys, a group-living Neotropical primate, where female choice is hypothesized to be a particularly important form of selection. The proposed study represents one of the first investigations of female reproductive strategies in Neotropical primates from an explicitly female choice perspective. It will include evaluation of female behavioral variation in relation to fertility status, expanding our knowledge of the biology of female choice and providing a comparative primate model for mate choice in hominins. This project will support research training and mentoring of U.S. students, development of international collaborations, public science outreach, and primate conservation efforts.Research on patterns of primate reproductive behavior often focuses on male strategies such as male-male contest competition and female coercion, with less attention to female mate choice. In primate species with low male-male contest competition and low male-to-female aggression, such as woolly monkeys, females mating decisions may be less constrained than in other primate taxa, and females may have more opportunity to actively choose their mates. This project will specifically examine how changes in fertility and likelihood of conception across females' reproductive cycles affect their rate of copulation, partner number and identity, and directing of mating-related behavior towards males. Using a combination of behavioral, endocrinological, and genetic methods, the researchers will study four groups of woolly monkeys in the wild. The project will explore whether female choice for particular males depends upon (1) male physical traits, (2) male-female affiliative relationships, (3) MHC dissimilarity, and (4) degree of genetic relatedness, and will examine whether these preferences vary according to cyclical changes in the ovarian hormones that determine female fertility. Ultimately, the results from this work may provide new insight into how mating systems are shaped by female decisions and behavior.