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和保持健康的身体状况，以便它们能够生存和繁殖。本博士论文项目考察了野生灵长类动物的行为、营养和能量学，以评估水果专家如何应对环境的不可预测性和长时间的水果稀缺，以及这些反应如何随着栖息地干扰而变化。该项目促进了学生在行为和营养方法方面的培训和论文数据收集；为本地研究人员和国际学者举办培训讲习班；并为少数民族服务机构的几名本科生和硕士生提供实验室研究机会。该研究可以通过监测不同受干扰生境种群的健康状况和预测人类驱动的生境干扰的结果，促进濒危物种的保护。该项目旨在提高我们对灵长类动物饮食灵活性及其对生态变化的后续反应的理解。一些灵长类动物，包括一些狐猴，被描述为“能量节俭”，利用节能特性的组合来应对恶劣的，通常是不可预测的环境。一些研究已经检查了灵长类动物对气候和食物供应季节性变化的反应，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，特别是考虑到持续的人类驱动的栖息地干扰。该项目提出了四个目标：(1)研究气候、资源可用性和行为之间的时空关系；(2)研究狐猴如何平衡营养摄入以应对食物供应和森林质量的变化；(3)检查矿物质在饮食中的作用；(4)阐明能量平衡的变化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，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.