Factors affecting provisioning and foraging in rapidly changing landscapes

觅食决定会影响营养、社会关系和种群间的接触。人类和动物可能会因为共享资源而发生冲突，在这两种情况下都会影响生存。尽管对是什么导致了具体的觅食决定进行了大量研究，但关于最近快速、戏剧性的景观变化如何影响个体选择吃什么以及在哪里吃，我们知之甚少。个体差异与供应方面的文化差异相互作用，影响在这种情况下特定觅食决定的成本和收益。为了了解这些复杂的动态，该项目使用生物文化人类学的理论模型来调查在快速变化的社会和生态景观中影响觅食和供应决定的因素。该项目支持两个为少数群体服务的机构、多机构合作和学生培训的早期职业研究人员。它向学术界和非学术界的受众广泛传播研究成果，并开发统计软件和教育课程，以促进知识的产生和传播。研究人员重点研究了在农业集约化正在迅速改变传统景观的背景下，灵长类动物和人类是如何相互作用和相互影响对方的行为的。具体地说，该项目的目标是：1)确定人类改良的栖息地如何塑造猕猴的行为；2)检查人们与猕猴互动的动机；3)开发新的统计方法来检查社会网络和行为。为了实现这些目标，项目组收集了猕猴的社会和放养行为、人与猕猴的相互作用和森林食物可获得性的纵向数据，并进行了人种学访谈。这项研究可以促进对集体决策、灵长类动物如何适应不断扩大的人类压力以及驱动人与野生动物相互作用的因素的认识和理解。这一奖项反映了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。

Foraging decisions affect nutrition, social relationships, and between-population encounters. Humans and animals may come into conflict over shared resources, affecting subsistence in both cases. Despite significant research on what leads to specific foraging decisions, little is known about how recent, rapid, dramatic changes in landscape affect what an individual chooses to eat and where. Individual differences interact with cultural variation in provisioning to affect the costs and benefits of specific foraging decisions in such contexts. To understand these complex dynamics, this project uses theoretical models from biocultural anthropology to investigate the factors affecting decisions to forage and provision in a rapidly changing social and ecological landscape. The project supports early-career researchers based at two minority-serving institutions, multi-institution collaborations, and student training. It disseminates research broadly to academic and non-academic audiences and develops statistical software and educational curricula to facilitate knowledge generation and spread. The researchers focus on how primates and people interact and mutually impact one another’s behavior in contexts where agricultural intensification is rapidly modifying traditional landscapes. Specifically, the project goals are to: 1) determine how human-modified habitats shape macaque behavior; 2) examine people’s motivations to engage in interactions with macaques; and 3) develop novel statistical methods to examine social networks and behavior. To accomplish these objectives, the project team collects longitudinal data on macaque social and ranging behavior, human-macaque interactions, and forest food availability data, and conducts ethnographic interviews. This research can advance knowledge and understanding of collective decision making, how primates adapt to expanding anthropogenic pressures, and the factors driving human-wildlife interactions.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.