Doctoral Dissertation Research: Quantifying behavior, nutrition, and energy balance in an ‘energetically frugal’ primate

生物体使用不同的策略来满足它们的营养需求，并保持健康的身体状况，以便它们可以生存和繁殖。这篇博士论文研究了野生灵长类动物的行为、营养和能量，以评估水果专家如何对环境的不可预测性和长期的水果稀缺性做出反应，以及这些反应如何随着栖息地的干扰而改变。该项目促进对学生进行行为和营养方法的培训和论文数据收集；为当地研究人员和国际学者举办培训讲习班；并为少数群体服务机构的几名本科生和硕士学生提供基于实验室的研究机会。这项研究可以通过监测生活在不同干扰栖息地的种群的健康状况，并预测人类驱动的栖息地干扰的结果，来促进对极度濒危物种的保护。该项目旨在提高我们对灵长类饮食灵活性以及它们随后对生态变化的反应的理解。一些灵长类动物，包括一些狐猴，被描述为“精力充沛”，在恶劣的、通常是不可预测的环境中使用节能特征的组合。一些研究已经研究了灵长类动物对气候和食物可获得性的季节性变化的反应，但对营养或能量水平的行为反应的额外量化可能有助于进一步解释许多狐猴物种明显的行为灵活性特征，特别是在持续的人类驱动的栖息地干扰的情况下。该项目提出了四个目标：(1)调查气候、资源可获得性和跨越空间和时间的行为之间的关系；(2)研究狐猴如何平衡营养摄入量，以响应食物可获得性和森林质量的变化；(3)检查矿物质在饮食中的作用；以及(4)阐明能量平衡的变化。该奖项反映了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。

Organisms use diverse strategies to meet their nutritional needs and maintain a healthy body condition so they may survive and reproduce. This doctoral dissertation project examines the behavior, nutrition, and energetics of a wild primate to assess how a fruit-specialist responds to environmental unpredictability and prolonged periods of fruit scarcity, as well as how these responses may change in response to habitat disturbance. The project facilitates the training and dissertation data collection of a student in behavioral and nutrition methods; implements training workshops for local research staff and international scholars; and provides lab-based research opportunities for several undergraduate and masters students at a minority-serving institution. The research can promote the conservation of a critically endangered species by monitoring the health of populations living in differentially disturbed habitats and predicting outcomes of human-driven habitat disturbance. This project aims to improve our understanding primate dietary flexibility and their subsequent responses to ecological change. Some primates, including some lemurs, are described as being ‘energetically frugal’, employing a combination of energy-saving traits in response to harsh, often unpredictable environments. Several studies have examined primate behavior in response to seasonal changes in climate and food availability, but additional quantification of behavioral responses to nutrition or energy levels may help to further explain the pronounced behavioral flexibility characteristic of many lemur species, particularly in light of ongoing human-driven habitat disturbance. The project proposes four objectives: (1) investigate the relationships between climate, resource availability, and behavior across space and time; (2) examine how lemurs balance nutrient intakes in response to changes in food availability and forest quality; (3) examine the role of minerals in the diet; and (4) elucidate variation in energy balance.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.