Doctoral Dissertation Research: Costs of competing for food in wild primates

物种之间的竞争在自然界中几乎无处不在，但其强度和后果很难衡量。这项研究调查了竞争对手的存在变化如何影响小型灵长类动物获得食物资源、健康和繁殖。这项研究的结果将确定和衡量小型灵长类动物由于与食物相关的竞争而经历的广泛结果。这项研究的结果有助于解释生活在一起吃相似食物的灵长类物种之间的行为差异，有助于了解种群结构，并为保护非人类灵长类动物提供洞察力。这项研究还为来自国际上和美国历来被STEM排除在外的群体的学生提供了重要的野外和实验室方法培训机会。大多数灵长类动物生活在高度生物多样性的群落中，并与其他物种激烈竞争食物来源。尽管物种间的相互作用可能会对获取资源产生重大影响，但灵长类动物的研究主要集中在物种内的竞争性相互作用上。因此，迫切需要探索物种间的竞争如何影响繁殖、种群动态、群落结构，甚至社会互动。这项研究通过在四个野外地点检测竞争压力、食物可获得性和红尾猴身体状况的变化，研究了几个较大的灵长类物种对小体红尾猴(Cercopithecus Ascanius)的影响。研究人员将评估非侵入性采集的尿液和粪便样本中的代谢激素，以确定个体何时处于能量增加、轻微缺乏或严重组织浪费的状态。将通过跟踪出生和测量生殖荷尔蒙来评估生育努力。这些结果将被用来确定这三个更大、相互竞争的灵长类物种是否对红尾猴的能量和繁殖有类似的影响，或者一些竞争对手是否对身体较小的物种异常有害。该项目由生物人类学和建立和拓宽计划(SBE)共同资助。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。

Competition between species exists nearly everywhere in nature, yet its intensity and consequences are difficult to measure. This study investigates how changes in the presence of competitors affects access to food resources, health, and reproduction in small primates. Results from this study will identify and measure the wide-ranging outcomes that small primates experience because of food-related competition. Results of this study help to explain the behavioral variation seen among primate species that live together eating similar diets, contributes to understanding population structure, and offers insight for conservation efforts for nonhuman primates. This study also provides significant training opportunities in field and laboratory methods for students from groups historically excluded from STEM internationally and the U.S. Most primates live in highly biodiverse communities and compete intensely with other species for access to food sources. Although between-species interactions are likely to have substantial effects on access to resources, primate studies have focused primarily on competitive interactions within a species. As a result, there is an urgent need to explore how between-species competition shapes reproduction, population dynamics, community structure, and even social interactions. This study examines how small-bodied red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) are affected by several larger primate species, by examining variation in competitor pressure, food availability, and red-tailed monkey physical condition at four field sites. The investigators will evaluate metabolic hormones from non-invasively collected urine and fecal samples to determine when individuals are in a state of energy gain, minor deficit, or profound tissue wasting. Reproductive effort will be assessed by tracking births and measuring reproductive hormones. These results will be used to determine whether the three larger, competing primate species have similar effects on red-tailed monkey energetics and reproduction, or if some competitors are unusually detrimental to a smaller-bodied species. This project is funded jointly by Biological Anthropology and Build and Broaden programs (SBE).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.