Doctoral Dissertation Research: The role of testosterone in the modulation of parental behaviors in primates

博士论文研究：睾酮在灵长类动物父母行为调节中的作用

• 批准号: 1751889
• 负责人: James Higham
• 金额: $ 0.95万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-03-15 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1751889&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; role; testosterone

The hormone testosterone (T) occurs in females as well as males, and there is growing interest in understanding the role of T in female reproductive behavioral biology. This doctoral dissertation project investigates relationships between T and maternal behaviors in free-ranging monkeys. The study of T in relation to motherhood in these non-human primates will contribute to the literature on the hormonal mechanisms of parenting, and provide comparative data for understanding the development of human-like parenting behavior during primate and hominin evolution. The project will facilitate training in STEM fields for undergraduates and graduates, including women from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds. This project will also support research collaborations and public science outreach about human and primate biology and evolution.This project will investigate the role of T in regulation of maternal care away from the current offspring towards future reproduction, and displays of aggression to other group members who can potentially harm offspring ('maternal aggression'). The investigators will collect longitudinal data on behaviors and physiology from 49 Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque mothers during their first 3 months postpartum, when maternal care steeply decreases in preparation for the reproductive transition to the next offspring, and when maternal aggression towards others is heightened. Advances in field endocrinology, including the measurement of fecal hormone metabolites, will enable the continuous tracking of physiology along with a rich suite of behaviors and provide new methods for future studies. Comparative data from living non-human primates are valuable for investigating the evolutionary origins of human behavior. The project will therefore contribute to nascent efforts to expand the study of T across taxa and sexes, and to enhance our understanding of how parental care evolved in primates and early humans.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

激素睾酮（T）发生在女性以及男性，并有越来越多的兴趣了解T在女性生殖行为生物学的作用。本博士论文项目研究T和自由放养的猴子的母性行为之间的关系。在这些非人类灵长类动物中T与母性关系的研究将有助于育儿激素机制的文献，并为理解灵长类动物和古人类进化过程中类似人类的育儿行为的发展提供比较数据。该项目将促进对本科生和毕业生，包括来自服务不足和代表性不足背景的妇女进行STEM领域的培训。该项目还将支持有关人类和灵长类动物生物学和进化的研究合作和公共科学宣传。该项目将调查T在调节母性护理中的作用，使其远离当前的后代，走向未来的繁殖，并向其他可能伤害后代的群体成员展示攻击性（“母性攻击”）。研究人员将收集49只圣地亚哥岛恒河猴母亲在产后前3个月的行为和生理学纵向数据，当时母亲的护理急剧减少，为下一个后代的生殖过渡做准备，并且母亲对他人的攻击性增加。田间内分泌学的进展，包括粪便激素代谢物的测量，将使连续跟踪生理学沿着丰富的行为，并为未来的研究提供新的方法。来自现存非人类灵长类动物的比较数据对于研究人类行为的进化起源很有价值。因此，该项目将有助于扩大跨类群和性别的T研究的新生努力，并提高我们对灵长类动物和早期人类的父母照顾如何演变的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。