Doctoral Dissertation Research: Evolution of the Extant and Fossil Colobine Primates

孔雀猴是一群与类人猿和人类关系密切的灵长类动物，物种丰富，分布在全球。尽管丰富的化石记录显示了过去更大的生态和地理范围，但它们的进化仍然知之甚少。这个项目将首先确定化石和现存的柯布猎犬之间的进化关系，然后利用这些新了解的关系来测试关于柯柯布类栖息地、食物、分布和多样性的长期存在的假设。使用较新的方法，包括最近描述的化石材料，将从早期的分析中提供关于共生动物进化的亟需的最新信息，并大大有助于我们对灵长类进化的更广泛理解。这个项目中使用的方法将被评估它们是否适用于灵长类进化的其他领域，包括早期人类进化。该项目还将通过使用富有魅力的灵长类动物来更广泛地讨论灵长类生物学、人类进化和进化理论，为指导和公众宣传提供多种机会。将继续在纽约市公立学校、城市大学学院和美国自然历史博物馆举办的活动中推广，并将为高中生、本科生和硕士学生提供与该项目有关的研究机会，强调计算机编码、统计分析、批判性思维和研究设计方面的广泛适用技能。该项目的所有产品，包括原始数据和计算机程序脚本，都将在公共资源库中提供，以鼓励对这些相对研究较少的灵长类动物进行进一步的研究。这个项目将探索孔雀猴的进化史，这是一种广泛而多样的灵长类辐射。与主要食叶和树栖现存的共生共生动物相比，化石共生共生动物的已知地理范围更广，并表现出一系列推断的底物偏好和生态。然而，这种多样性的进化背景在很大程度上是未知的，因为化石和现存的共生动物之间的关系仍然知之甚少。这个项目将首先对现存的和化石的共生猴进行全面的系统发育分析，然后使用推断树(S)来探索长期持有的假说：1)底物使用的进化，2)大陆之间的扩散的数量、时间和路线，3)中上新世气候事件背景下的共生猴多样化的模式和时间。化石和现存的共生动物将被评分进行系统发育分析，还将进行一系列功能性的后颅骨测量。简约和贝叶斯系统发育分析将仅对形态数据和结合分子数据的全证据分析进行。将生成一棵贝叶斯尖端日期树，并用于探索多样性随时间的变化，检查与主要气候事件的可能相关性。通过使用简约优化和贝叶斯建模绘制特征状态变化图和推断祖先状态，将探索生物地理历史和底物偏好的演变。将提供字符矩阵和程序代码，以便将这项工作纳入到对中上新世卡他犀类进化的更广泛理解中。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已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。

The colobine monkeys, a group of primates closely related to apes and humans, are species-rich and widespread globally. Despite an abundant fossil record demonstrating a greater ecological and geographic range in the past, their evolution remains poorly understood. This project will first determine the evolutionary relationships between the fossil and living colobines, then use these newly understood relationships to test long-standing hypotheses about the evolution of colobine habitats, diet, distribution, and diversity. Using newer methods and including recently described fossil material will provide a much-needed update on colobine evolution from earlier analyses and contribute significantly to our broader understanding of primate evolution. The methods used in this project will be evaluated for their applicability to other areas of primate evolution as well, including early human evolution. This project will also provide multiple opportunities for mentorship and public outreach by using charismatic primates to discuss primate biology, human evolution, and evolutionary theory more broadly. Outreach will continue at events hosted by New York City public schools, CUNY colleges, and the American Museum of Natural History and research opportunities related to this project for high school, undergraduate, and master's students will be provided, emphasizing broadly applicable skills in computer coding, statistical analysis, critical thinking, and research design. All products of this project, including raw data and computer program scripts, will be made available in public repositories to encourage further work on these relatively under-studied primates. This project will explore the evolutionary history of the colobine monkeys, a widespread and diverse primate radiation. In contrast to the primarily folivorous and arboreal extant colobines, fossil colobines are known from a wider geographic range and exhibit a range of inferred substrate preferences and ecologies. However, the evolutionary context of this diversity is largely unknown as the relationships between the fossil and living colobines are still poorly understood. This project will first conduct a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the living and fossil colobine monkeys and subsequently use the inferred tree(s) to explore long-held hypotheses about 1) the evolution of substrate use, 2) the number, timing, and route of dispersals between continents, and 3) the pattern and timing of colobine diversification in the context of Mio-Pliocene climatic events. Fossil and extant colobines will be scored for phylogenetic analysis and a set of functional postcranial measurements will also be taken. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses will be performed on both the morphological data only and in total-evidence analyses incorporating molecular data. A Bayesian tip-dated tree will be generated and used to explore changes in diversity through time, examining possible correlations with major climatic events. Biogeographic history and the evolution of substrate preference will be explored by mapping character state changes and inferring ancestral states using both parsimony optimization and Bayesian modeling. Character matrices and program codes will be made available to allow the incorporation of this work into a broader understanding of Mio-Pliocene catarrhine evolution.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.