Doctoral Dissertation Research: Patterns of social bonds and developmental outcomes in juvenile primates

尽管越来越多的研究已经确定了强大的社会关系如何改善人类和非人类灵长类动物的生存和健康，但对社会关系在早期生活中的重要性的研究相对较少。这个博士论文项目将整合行为、荷尔蒙和免疫数据，以量化早期生活中的社会关系，并评估它们在野生灵长类动物中的发育后果。通过研究非人类灵长类物种中的这些联系，这项研究将为研究人类早期的社会关系提供比较数据。这位研究人员将在美国和国外从事导师和教育项目，指导本科生制定研究项目，为服务不足的社区的图书馆设计科学项目，并与当地社区一起领导保护教育活动。这个研究项目将研究野生幼年猕猴早期社会纽带的作用。狐狸生活在复杂的社会中，在这个社会中，未成熟的成员既与熟悉的队友玩耍，也与陌生的邻居玩耍。首先，这个项目将考虑到这些模式中潜在的性别差异，确定母亲的支配地位、近亲的数量以及兄弟姐妹的存在/不存在是否可以预测社会纽带的质量和/或数量。其次，这个项目将考察牢固的纽带是否会缓冲青少年免受社会逆境的影响，降低受到攻击的比率，增加在竞争中的联盟，以及减少生理压力措施。最后，本项目将调查应激反应对先天免疫和获得性免疫的影响。虽然社会孤立和相关的生理压力可能会全面损害免疫功能，但它可能会导致这两个子系统之间的权衡，优先考虑立即有益的先天免疫防御。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Although a growing body of research has pinpointed how strong social bonds improve survival and health across both human and nonhuman primates, the importance of social connections in early life has been comparatively understudied. This doctoral dissertation project will integrate behavioral, hormonal, and immune data to quantify early-life social bonds and assess their developmental consequences in a wild primate. By studying these connections in a nonhuman primate species, this research will provide comparative data for investigations of early-life social bonds in humans. The investigator will engage in mentorship and education programs both in the U.S. and abroad, mentoring undergraduates in crafting research projects, designing science programs for libraries in underserved neighborhoods, and leading conservation education activities with local communities.This research project will examine the role of early-life social bonds in wild, juvenile gelada monkeys. Geladas inhabit complex societies in which immatures play with both familiar groupmates and unfamiliar neighbors. First, this project will determine whether maternal dominance rank, the number of close relatives, and the presence/absence of a sibling predict the quality and/or quantity of social bonds, taking into account potential sex differences in these patterns. Second, this project will examine whether strong bonds buffer juveniles from social adversity, reducing rates of received aggression, increasing alliances during competitive encounters, and decreasing physiological stress measures. Lastly, this project will investigate the stress response’s impact on both innate immunity and adaptive immunity. While social isolation and associated physiological stress may impair immune function wholesale, it may instead lead to trade-offs between these two sub-systems, prioritizing immediately beneficial, innate immune defenses.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.