Doctoral Dissertation Research: Behavioral flexibility and space use in nonhuman primates

行为灵活性，即在不同情况下改变自己行为的能力，是人类的一个关键特征，但人们对这种特征是如何在我们的血统中出现的却知之甚少。研究表明，非人类灵长类动物表现出比以前认为的更大的行为灵活性。解决人类行为灵活性的产生和本质问题的一种方法是通过对空间如何被利用的比较研究，作为我们的近亲非人灵长类动物的行为决策范围的表征。特别是，了解不同灵长类动物根据食物资源的波动或社会关系的变化而改变自己行为的能力，有可能为促进灵长类动物之间的行为变异、这种变异在人类进化中的重要性以及我们人类祖先的行为能力提供有价值的见解。本博士论文研究项目考察了人类近亲野生群体的空间利用策略，以研究食物供应的自然变化和社会动态的变化如何解释空间利用的差异。该项目有助于培养研究生和本科生以及灵长类动物保护。本研究利用在五种非人灵长类动物种群的种群范围内收集的特定种群资源，以及它们之间所有相互作用的发生，以及焦点个体的日常跟踪来记录种群在其种群范围内运动的开始。这些数据用于解决三个主要问题：家庭范围特定资源获取的差异促进了空间使用策略的变化，范围重叠的差异是否与群体之间社会关系的差异有关，以及群体规模和领导的差异是否影响群体运动决策。除了满足人类学和认知科学对行为变化调查日益增长的需求外，本研究还在数据收集和分析中采用了新的技术方法。结合空间显式资源建模、社会网络分析和群体水平比较来评估灵长类动物空间利用策略的灵活性。这项研究不仅解决了关于行为变异进化的长期问题，而且还可以用来为保护世界各地的非人类灵长类动物的保护策略提供信息。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。

Behavioral flexibility, or the ability to change one’s behavior in different contexts, is a key human trait, but how this trait emerged in our lineage is less understood. Research shows that non-human primates show more behavioral flexibility than previously assumed. One way to approach the question of the emergence and nature of human behavioral flexibility is through a comparative study of how spaces are used, as representations of the range of behavioral decisions shown among our close nonhuman primate relatives. In particular, understanding the capability of different primates to modify their behavior in response to the fluctuating availability of food resources or changes in social relationships has the potential to provide valuable insights into promotes behavioral variation among primates, the importance of such variability in human evolution, and the behavioral capabilities of our human ancestors. This doctoral dissertation research project examines space use strategies of wild groups of a close human relative, to investigate how natural variation in food availability and changes in social dynamics can explain differences in space use. This project contributes to the training of graduate and undergraduate students as well as primate conservation.This study uses home range specific resource availability collected across the home ranges of five nonhuman primate groups, all occurrences of interactions between them, and daily follows of focal individuals to document initiations of group movements within their home ranges. These data are used to address three main questions: what differences in home range specific resource access promotes variation in space use strategies, whether differences in ranging overlap is linked to differences in social relationships between groups, and whether differences in group size and leadership influence group movement decisions. In addition to addressing the growing demand for investigations into behavioral variation from both anthropology and cognitive sciences, this research implements new technological approaches in data collection and analyses. A combination of spatially explicit resource modelling, social network analyses, and group-level comparisons are used to evaluate flexibility in primate space use strategies. This research not only addresses long-standing questions on the evolution of behavioral variation but can also be used to inform conservation strategies aimed at protecting non-human primates across the world.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.