Collaborative Research: Competition within and between primate social groups: Hormonal and behavioral signatures

合作研究：灵长类社会群体内部和之间的竞争：激素和行为特征

• 批准号: 1926060
• 负责人: Susan Alberts
• 金额: $ 23.91万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-15 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1926060&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Competition; within; between

What are the costs and benefits of living in social groups of different sizes? Theory predicts that living in smaller groups should ease competition for resources within groups. But living in larger groups provides an advantage in competition between groups. These trade-offs between within-group competition (favoring smaller groups) and between-group competition (favoring larger groups) may mean that living in intermediate-sized groups is the best strategy for social species. However, this hypothesis has rarely been tested, and basic questions remain about how competition between individuals and groups affect an individual's energetic condition, and ultimately reproduction and survival. This study will address these questions by analyzing thyroid hormones - a modulator of metabolism and energy balance - in wild primates, in order to understand the relationship between group size, different types of competition, and energetic condition. The research will focus on a wild baboon population in Kenya studied for more than 45 years by the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. To pursue this innovative research direction, investigators will use a repository of approximately 8,000 already-acquired baboon fecal samples collected over a continuous 12-year period from over 200 adult females. Thyroid hormone metabolites will be compared to a rich dataset including information on individual group membership, group size, group movements, reproduction, and life span, among other information, to test the predictions surrounding the benefits of living in groups of varying size. In concert with the research goals, the investigators will build STEM talent and broaden participation of under-represented groups in behavioral ecology and biological anthropology by: (1) providing employment and training for a full-time research technician; (2) mentoring Stony Brook University graduate and Duke undergraduate students; and (3) developing and implementing a sustainable after school program in behavioral science that targets middle school students from high-needs districts. This research is co-funded by the Behavioral Systems Program in the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Biological Anthropology Program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences. How resource competition affects survival and reproduction in social mammals is a central topic in behavioral ecology and biological anthropology. This research will address this topic directly by empirically evaluating the tension between resource competition within and between social groups in a wild primate population. To do so, the investigators will quantify the concentration of thyroid hormones in approximately 8,000 already-acquired fecal samples from adult female baboons. The central premise is that variation in thyroid hormone concentrations provides a quantifiable index of individual energetic condition, which will vary as a function of competition for energy resources within and between groups. The resulting data will be analyzed in combination with detailed data on individual females and on social groups. Individual-level data will include social status, age, reproductive state, diet, and agonistic interactions; group-level data will include group size, group-level ranging patterns, intergroup encounters, and group stability. The research aims are to: (1) enhance our existing biological validation of fecal thyroid hormone analysis; (2) quantify the energetic consequences of social rank and group size; (3) assess the energetic predictors and consequences of changes in group size that occur through group fission events; and (4) understand the relative contributions of energetic versus psychosocial processes to variation in female endocrine profiles. This novel approach, which will provide an unprecedented window into the energetic consequences of social rank and group size, has rarely been applied to the study of wild primates and has never been applied to any project of this scale and scope.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.

生活在不同规模的社会群体中的成本和收益是什么？理论预测，生活在较小的群体中应减轻群体内资源的竞争。 但是，生活在较大的群体中为小组之间的竞争提供了优势。在组内竞争（偏爱较小的群体）和组间竞争（偏爱较大的群体）之间的这些权衡可能意味着生活在中型群体中是社交物种的最佳策略。但是，这一假设很少得到检验，并且关于个人和群体之间的竞争如何影响个人的能量状况以及最终繁殖和生存的基本问题。这项研究将通过分析野生灵长类动物中的甲状腺激素（代谢和能量平衡的调节剂）来解决这些问题，以了解群体大小，不同类型的竞争和能量状况之间的关系。这项研究将集中于肯尼亚的野生狒狒人口，由Amboseli Baboon Research项目学习了45年以上。为了追求这个创新的研究方向，研究人员将使用约8,000个已经获得的狒狒粪便样本的存储库，这些粪便在连续的12年期间从200多名成年女性中收集。将将甲状腺激素代谢物与丰富的数据集进行比较，包括有关各个小组成员资格，小组大小，小组运动，繁殖和寿命等信息，以测试围绕不同规模的群体生活的预测。 与研究目标一致，研究人员将建立人才，并扩大代表性不足的行为生态学和生物学人类学的参与：（1）为全日制研究技术员提供就业和培训； （2）指导Stony Brook大学毕业生和杜克大学的本科生； （3）开发和实施行为科学的可持续课程课程，该计划针对来自高需求地区的中学生。 这项研究是由行为系统计划在生物科学局和社会，行为和经济科学局中的生物人类学计划中共同资助的。 资源竞争如何影响社会哺乳动物的生存和繁殖是行为生态学和生物人类学的核心主题。这项研究将直接通过经验评估野生灵长类动物人群内部和社会群体之间的资源竞争之间的张力来直接解决这一主题。为此，研究人员将量化大约8,000种来自成年雌性狒狒的粪便样品中甲状腺激素的浓度。中心前提是，甲状腺激素浓度的变化提供了单个能量条件的可量化指数，该指数将随着组内和组之间的能源竞争的函数而变化。结果数据将与有关单个女性和社会群体的详细数据结合分析。个人级别的数据将包括社会地位，年龄，生殖状态，饮食和激动人心的互动；小组级数据将包括组大小，组级别范围模式，组间相互接触和组稳定性。该研究的目的是：（1）增强我们对粪便甲状腺激素分析的现有生物学验证； （2）量化社会等级和群体规模的能量后果； （3）评估通过小组裂变事件发生的群体大小变化的能量预测因素和后果； （4）了解能量与心理社会过程对女性内分泌特征变异的相对贡献。 This novel approach, which will provide an unprecedented window into the energetic consequences of social rank and group size, has rarely been applied to the study of wild primates and has never been applied to any project of this scale and scope.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.