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

灵长类动物中雌性的择偶有时会被雄性与雄性之间的竞争研究所掩盖，因为竞争是影响灵长类动物生殖行为模式的主要选择压力。这个博士论文项目将探讨野生毛猴，一个群体生活的新热带灵长类动物，女性的选择被假设为是一个特别重要的选择形式的女性择偶。这项研究代表了新热带灵长类动物从明确的女性选择的角度来看，女性生殖策略的第一次调查。它将包括评估女性行为变化与生育状况的关系，扩大我们对女性选择生物学的了解，并为人类的配偶选择提供一个比较灵长类动物模型。 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。灵长类动物生殖行为模式的研究通常集中在雄性策略上，如雄性与雄性之间的竞争和雌性胁迫，而对雌性择偶的关注较少。在低雄性竞争和低雄性对雌性攻击的灵长类动物物种中，如毛猴，雌性交配决定可能比其他灵长类动物类群受到更少的限制，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、内分泌学和遗传学方法，研究四组野生毛猴。该项目将探讨女性对特定男性的选择是否取决于（1）男性的身体特征，（2）男女从属关系，（3）MHC的差异，以及（4）遗传相关性的程度，并将研究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女性的决定和行为如何塑造交配系统提供新的见解。

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.