Does is pay to be smart? Cognition and fitness in gray mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus)

事实上，不是所有的物种或一个特定物种中的所有个体都表现出相同的、无限的认知能力，这表明存在着涉及潜在特征的近似约束和进化权衡。然而，个体间认知能力差异的大小和来源仍然知之甚少;主要是因为只有少数（鸟类）研究将认知能力的差异与微观进化过程和健身结果联系起来。我们建议进行第一次研究的认知健身相关的野生灵长类动物物种，灰鼠狐猴（Microcebus murinus）一个短暂的，生态通才。这样的研究不仅可以从野生哺乳动物中获得第一个比较数据，而且还可以从一个通常被认为是认知复杂的分类群中获得比较数据。具体来说，我们计划将测试个体在不同领域的各种认知能力的实验结果与各种健康指标（如生长，身体状况，生殖成功和长期生存）联系起来，以全面的方式分析这些基本特征之间的潜在联系，并且比现有的研究更详细。因此，这种新颖的功能方法有可能显着提高我们对（灵长类）认知进化的理解，并通过揭示在短暂的生态通才中是否值得聪明，为非灵长类动物关于这一主题的研究提供重要的比较信息。

The fact that neither all species nor all individuals within a given species exhibit the same, unlimited cognitive abilities indicates the existence of proximate constraints and evolutionary trade-offs involving the underlying traits. However, the magnitude and sources of inter-individual variation in cognitive abilities, in particular, remain poorly known; primarily because only a handful of (bird) studies have linked variation in cognitive abilities to micro-evolutionary processes and fitness outcomes. We propose to conduct the first study of cognition-fitness correlates in a wild primate species, the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) a short-lived, ecological generalist. Such a study would not only yield the first comparative data from a wild mammal, but also from a taxon generally considered to be cognitively sophisticated. Specifically, we plan to link results of experiments testing individuals on a variety of cognitive abilities in different domains with various fitness measures like growth, body condition, reproductive success and long-term survival to analyze potential links between these fundamental traits in a comprehensive manner and in more detail than existing studies on this topic. Thus, this novel, functional approach has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of the evolution of (primate) cognition and contribute important comparative information to non-primate studies on this topic by revealing whether it pays to be smart in a short-lived, ecological generalist.