Feeding Ontogeny at the Interface of Behavior and Morphology

这项研究将整合对食物的物理特性，个人在打开和吃食物时使用的行为，以及两种灵长类动物不同年龄段的下颌肌肉力学的研究，揭示解剖学和行为如何相互作用以影响重要发育里程碑期间的进食表现。这项研究的结果将提高我们的理解，如何选择特定的喂养行为策略在发展过程中塑造成年人的喂养行为和相关的肌肉骨骼解剖。此外，这些发现可以为理解和重建化石灵长类动物和人类行为的模型提供信息。该项目将促进国际研究合作，为一名女博士后科学家和多名本科生和研究生提供STEM培训机会，并支持四名早期职业女性科学家。研究结果将用于为K-12学生开发灵长类动物行为和解剖练习，并为K-12教师提供培训，以有效地提供这些练习。此外，这项研究的结果将与实地的保护和社区外展工作有关。本研究将整合不同的数据集，以测试灵长类动物摄食系统的形式功能假说。这项研究的中心目标是研究未成熟的灵长类动物在个体发育过程中如何科普进食表现的限制，如最大的下颚张开和咬合力。为了实现这一目标，本研究将比较两种相关灵长类动物的摄食系统发育，一种是利用坚硬，坚韧和相对较大的食物，另一种是吃较小，机械挑战性较小的食物。 具体而言，该项目将：1）整合实验和生态学数据，解决密切相关的灵长类动物物种的食物特性，摄食行为，摄食系统功能和形态的发育变化; 2）建立未成熟灵长类动物的饮食和形态之间的功能关系，以研究发育过程中特定摄食行为的选择如何与成年形态相关，并在整个个体发育过程中保持摄食性能;以及3）将关于摄食系统骨骼形态的数据与关于摄食系统性能的关键决定因素（包括食物特性、咬合力和张口）的数据相结合。这些结果有助于我们了解现存的灵长类动物的生态形态学，也提供了一个综合模型的外观和分化的饮食驱动的形态化石taxa.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This research will integrate research on the physical properties of food, the behaviors individuals use while opening and eating foods, and jaw muscle mechanics across a range of ages in two primate species, shedding light on how anatomy and behavior interact to influence feeding performance during important developmental milestones. Results of this research will improve our understanding of how selection for particular feeding behavior strategies during development shapes adult feeding behavior and related musculoskeletal anatomy. Additionally, the findings may inform models for understanding and reconstructing behavior from fossil primates and hominins. The project will foster international research collaborations, provide STEM training opportunities for a female postdoctoral scientist and multiple undergraduate and graduate students, and support four early-career female scientists. Results will be used to develop primate behavior and anatomy exercises for K-12 students and provide training for K-12 teachers to effectively deliver those exercises. Furthermore, findings from this research will be relevant to conservation and community outreach efforts at the field sites. This study will integrate diverse datasets to test primate feeding system form-function hypotheses. The central goal of the proposed research is to examine how immature primates cope with feeding performance constraints, such as maximum jaw gape and bite force, during ontogeny. To address this goal, this study will compare feeding system development in two related primate species, one that exploits hard, tough and relatively large foods, and one that eats smaller, less mechanically-challenging foods. Specifically this project will: 1) integrate experimental and ecological data addressing developmental shifts in food properties, feeding behavior, and feeding system function and morphology in closely related primate species; 2) establish functional relationships between diet and morphology in immature primates to examine how selection for particular feeding behaviors during development relates to adult morphologies and maintains feeding performance throughout ontogeny; and 3) integrate data on feeding system skeletal morphology with data on critical determinants of feeding system performance, including food properties, bite force, and gape. These results contribute to our understanding of extant primate ecomorphology and also provide an integrated model for the appearance and differentiation of diet-driven morphology in fossil taxa.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.