Doctoral Dissertation Research: Female Great Ape Behavior and Reproduction in Forest Fragments

这个博士论文项目研究了栖息地碎片化如何影响野生雌性黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes），特别是评估森林碎片化和食物供应对雌性行为和生殖性能的影响。该项目将推进有关物种对环境变化的反应的基本知识。此外，随着人类土地利用迅速改变森林，了解灵长类动物如何科普栖息地丧失和破碎化对成功保护它们至关重要。研究结果将有助于利益攸关方制定和采用有效的森林片断管理计划，以确保黑猩猩和相关生物多样性得到保护。该项目还提供了通过公共宣传和让本科生参与实地数据收集和分析进行培训的机会。这项研究将利用两个森林片段，这两个森林片段在人口密度上相似，但在食物丰富度和接近更大的黑猩猩种群方面有所不同。破碎化通常伴随着大量食物资源的损失，正在调查的一片森林就是这种情况。然而，另一个片段仍然由原始森林组成，这是一个强大的自然实验，通过它来测试独立于食物供应的破碎化效果。该项目的总体假设是，女性行为将更多地受到食物供应和隔离的影响，而不是分裂。或者，雌性黑猩猩可能有足够的行为灵活性，因为它们的流动社会系统，以减轻破碎的负面影响。通过整合新的和现有的生态和行为数据集，该项目将测试栖息地碎片化如何影响雌性黑猩猩的亚群模式，扩散以及最终的生殖性能。将通过全天重点跟踪成年雌性和沿沿着的月度巢调查收集亚组数据。将通过遗传数据评估雌性扩散行为，遗传数据将从非侵入性收集的粪便样本中产生。最后，女性生殖性能将从两个指标来表征：成年女性抱婴儿的比例和C-肽值通过非侵入性收集的尿液样本测量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已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。

This doctoral dissertation project examines how habitat fragmentation affects wild female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), specifically assessing the consequences of forest fragmentation and food availability on female behavior and reproductive performance. The project will advance fundamental knowledge about species responses to environmental change. In addition, as human land use rapidly alters forests, understanding how primates cope with habitat loss and fragmentation is of paramount import to their successful conservation. Results will help stakeholders develop and adopt efficient management plans for forest fragments to ensure the protection of chimpanzees and related biodiversity. This project also presents opportunities for training through public outreach and by engaging undergraduate students in field data collection and analyses. This study will take advantage of two forest fragments which are similar in population density but differ in terms of food abundance and proximity to a larger chimpanzee population. Fragmentation usually co-occurs with substantial loss of food resources, as is the case for one of the forest fragments under investigation. However, the other fragment is still comprised of primary forest, presenting a powerful natural experiment through which to test the effect of fragmentation independent of food availability. The overarching hypothesis of this project is that female behavior will be more impacted by food availability and isolation than fragmentation. Alternatively, female chimpanzees may have sufficient behavioral flexibility due to their fluid social system to mitigate negative consequences of fragmentation. By integrating novel and existing ecological and behavioral datasets, this project will test how habitat fragmentation impacts female chimpanzee subgrouping patterns, dispersal and ultimately, reproductive performance. Subgrouping data will be collected through full day focal follow of adult females and monthly nest surveys along line transects. Female dispersal behavior will be assessed through genetic data, which will be generated from non-invasively collected fecal samples. Finally, female reproductive performance will be characterized from two metrics: the adult female-clinging infant ratio and C-peptide values measured through non-invasively collected urine samples.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.