Doctoral Dissertation Research: Nutritional ontogeny and development of the microbiome in primates

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Infant and juvenile primates must navigate a complex nutritional world, even before they have fully developed the mechanical, behavioral, physiological, and microbial adaptations used by adults. Folivorous species, which rely on diets high in fibrous foods like leaves, face an especially challenging nutritional environment requiring specialized strategies and adaptations. These adaptations include a symbiotic gastrointestinal microbiome, which plays a central role in the breakdown and capture of nutrients from high-fiber foods. This doctoral dissertation project will investigate the role of the microbiome in the nutritional strategy of a folivorous primate during juvenile growth and development, advancing knowledge about the primate microbiome, nutrition and life history adaptations. The project will support student training and mentoring in STEM research, several cross-institutional and international collaborations, community science and conservation outreach. Investigators will focus on Gorilla beringei, as they occupy a unique nutritional niche in an extreme ecology; they live at high altitudes with very limited availability of high-energy food sources (e.g. ripe fruit). As a specialist folivore, they are a useful model for testing the relationship between nutritional development and life history. Project aims will address 1) the nutritional intake and feeding strategies of infant and juvenile mountain gorillas; 2) the dynamics of the gastrointestinal microbiome in infants and juveniles; and 3) the functional contribution of the microbiome as a nutritional strategy.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.