Doctoral Dissertation Research: Multi-scale movement behavior in primates

博士论文研究：灵长类动物的多尺度运动行为

• 批准号: 2041683
• 负责人: Andrea Baden
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: CUNY Hunter College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2041683&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Multi; scale

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Movement is a fundamental aspect of primate life, as it is key to survival, reproduction, adaptation, and evolution. At fine scales, movement affects individual survival and reproduction through its role in foraging behavior, predator avoidance, and mate acquisition, while larger scale movement can influence local adaptations and speciation via its role in dispersal, population connectivity, and gene flow. This doctoral dissertation project investigates how fine and large-scale movement decisions in primates reflect spatial and temporal variability in their environment. The research provides important insight regarding human land use and its effects on primate movement, providing local reforestation practitioners key information to help direct their conservation efforts. Moreover, the project strengthens research infrastructure and contributes to the education and training of students, including individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM, and the general public. To evaluate environmental impacts on ruffed lemur multiscale movement, this project has two main objectives: (1) to assess how fine-scale movement varies through time and along an ecological disturbance gradient at four research sites; and (2) to examine how historic and contemporary environmental variation in the broader region explains large-scale movement and dispersal in the species. The investigators quantify fine-scale environmental differences across the disturbance gradient by using botanical surveys, monitoring monthly food availability, and assessing three- dimensional forest structure with drones. Investigators track lemur movement at each site with GPS collars; this information lets investigators identify aspects of forest structure (e.g., tree canopy cover and connectivity) that influence lemur habitat use. Large-scale landcover, land change, and forest structure is quantified with botanical surveys and classification of satellite images. The investigators use population genetic assessments to quantify lemur dispersal patterns throughout the region, followed by landscape genetic techniques to identify which environmental variables drive dispersal patterns in this species. Overall, this project clarifies how environmental variation and habitat change have influenced and continue to influence fine- and large-scale lemur movement and habitat use. Therefore, the insights derived from this project provide foundational information by which to evaluate environmental drivers of primate evolution at multiple levels.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.

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。运动是灵长类生命的一个基本方面，因为它是生存，繁殖，适应和进化的关键。在细尺度上，运动通过其在觅食行为、捕食者回避和配偶获得中的作用影响个体的生存和繁殖，而较大尺度的运动可以通过其在扩散、种群连接和基因流中的作用影响局部适应和物种形成。这个博士论文项目研究了灵长类动物的精细和大规模运动决策如何反映其环境的空间和时间变化。这项研究提供了关于人类土地利用及其对灵长类动物运动影响的重要见解，为当地重新造林从业者提供了关键信息，以帮助指导他们的保护工作。此外，该项目加强了研究基础设施，并有助于学生的教育和培训，包括来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的个人和公众。为了评估环境对皱皮狐猴多尺度运动的影响，该项目有两个主要目标：（1）评估细尺度运动如何随时间和沿着四个研究地点的生态干扰梯度变化;（2）研究更广泛地区的历史和当代环境变化如何解释物种的大规模运动和扩散。研究人员通过使用植物调查，监测每月的食物供应，以及用无人机评估三维森林结构，量化了干扰梯度上的精细环境差异。调查人员用GPS项圈跟踪每个地点的狐猴活动;这些信息使调查人员能够识别森林结构的各个方面（例如，树冠覆盖和连通性），影响狐猴栖息地的使用。大规模的土地覆盖，土地变化和森林结构量化与植物调查和卫星图像分类。研究人员使用种群遗传评估来量化整个地区的狐猴扩散模式，然后使用景观遗传技术来确定哪些环境变量驱动该物种的扩散模式。总体而言，该项目阐明了环境变化和栖息地变化如何影响并继续影响精细和大规模的狐猴运动和栖息地利用。因此，从该项目中获得的见解提供了基础信息，通过这些信息可以在多个层面上评估灵长类动物进化的环境驱动因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。