Adaptation to an anthropogenic habitat: Integrated modelling of ecological and physiological impacts on chacma baboons

全球人口增长正迅速将自然生态系统转变为人类改造的景观。这种土地改造和自然栖息地的丧失导致许多动物物种现在生活在人类附近。一些物种在人类改造的栖息地中茁壮成长；对其他人来说，由于食物和其他资源的竞争，与人类的接近导致了负面的互动，加上人类与野生动物生活在一起的安全问题。随着人类与野生动物的“冲突”在全球范围内的增加，了解动物如何适应人类改造的景观以及这对它们的繁殖和生存的影响变得越来越重要。灵长类动物的适应能力很强，越来越多的物种居住在人类改造的景观中，习惯于与人类密切接触。在这些环境中，生态挑战可能包括家庭活动范围受限、天然食物供应减少和寄生虫感染增加。相反，与人类的亲密关系往往与自然捕食者的灭绝和新的可用资源有关，包括农田、花园、房屋和垃圾场。对这些资源的竞争往往导致灵长类动物与人类之间的负面互动，或人类与野生动物之间的冲突，影响活动、饮食、生理、繁殖和健康，包括严重伤害甚至死亡。很少有研究试图了解灵长类动物对居住在人类主导的景观中的竞争成本和机会的反应，特别是在灵长类动物的主要食物来源相对没有竞争的情况下。在南非林波波省Alldays镇的垃圾填埋场，几群chacma狒狒（Papio ursinus）正在进食。最初的研究表明，垃圾场里的食物对狒狒的饮食、时间预算和活动模式有重大影响。在垃圾填埋场，倾倒工人和狒狒有着共同的关系，而在远离垃圾场的地方，当地居民往往对狒狒很有攻击性。枪击事件似乎相对频繁，尽管繁殖率很高，但群体结构表明人类活动对狒狒的人口统计产生了重大影响。因此，狒狒必须在一个复杂的环境中生存，在这个环境中，获取资源的途径和人为风险因素在空间和时间上都是不同的。该系统提供了一个理想的机会来了解灵长类动物对人类改造景观的行为和生理反应，以及狒狒如何权衡与人类生活在一起的成本和收益。该项目将包括在Alldays进行实地调查，收集：使用垃圾场的两组chacma狒狒的行为数据和微生境使用情况；大生境利用和微生境利用的生态数据；和粪便样本进行无创激素分析，将在杜伦大学人类学系行为生态学与生理学实验室进行。GPS项圈可以用来探测高分辨率的运动模式。对包括食物摄入和人类迫害在内的生态因素的能量生理反应将通过应激和代谢激素水平的变化来评估。经过验证的EIAs（酶免疫测定）将用于分析粪便样本的生理应激水平和恢复力（糖皮质激素）以及代谢率和能量平衡（甲状腺激素）。混合模型将用于分析和比较影响两个狒狒群体活动预算、能量平衡、生理应激反应和恢复力的综合行为、生态和生理因素。社会网络分析将有助于探索社会网络如何随着人为空间和资源的使用而变化，并有助于检查人类互动和迫害事件对亲密网络伙伴的行为和生理影响。

Global human population growth is rapidly converting natural ecosystems into human-modified landscapes. This land transformation and associated loss of natural habitat has resulted in many animal species now living in close proximity to humans. Some species thrive in human-modified habitats; for others, proximity to humans leads to negative interactions due to competition over food and other resources, plus safety concerns for humans living alongside wildlife. As human-wildlife 'conflicts' increase across the globe it is increasingly important to understand how animals adapt to human-modified landscapes and the impacts this has on their reproduction and survival.Primates are highly adaptable, with species increasingly inhabiting human-modified landscapes becoming habituated to living in close contact with humans. In these environments, ecological challenges can include restricted home ranges, reduced natural food availability and increased parasitic infections. Conversely, close proximity to humans is often associated with the extirpation of natural predators and new resources available may include crop fields, gardens, homes and refuse dumps. Competition for these resources often leads to negative interactions between primates and humans, or human-wildlife conflict, impacting on activity, diet, physiology, reproduction and health, including serious injuries and even death. Few studies have sought to understand primates' responses to the competing costs and opportunities of inhabiting human-dominated landscapes, particularly in contexts where the primary food source for the primates is relatively uncontested.Several chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) groups feed at the local landfill site in the rural town of Alldays, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Initial work showed the food available at the dump can have significant impacts on the diets, time budgets and ranging patterns of the baboons. While at the landfill site, the dump workers and baboons share a commensal relationship, whereas away from the dump local residents are often aggressive towards the baboons. Instances of shooting appear relatively frequent, and despite high reproductive rates, group structures suggest significant impacts of human actions on the baboon demography. The baboons must thus navigate a complex landscape where access to resources and anthropogenic risk factors vary spatially and temporally. The system provides an ideal opportunity to understand the behavioural and physiological responses of primates to living in human-modified landscapes and how baboons trade-off the costs and benefits of living alongside humans.The project will involve fieldwork in Alldays to collect: behavioural data and microhabitat usage for two groups of chacma baboons which use the rubbish dump; ecological data on their broader habitat usage and microhabitat usage; and faecal samples for non-invasive hormone analysis to be carried out in the Behavioural Ecology & Physiology Laboratory, Anthropology Dept., Durham University. GPS collars may be deployed to explore high resolution movement patterns. Energetic physiological responses to ecological factors, including food intake and human persecution will be assessed through variation in stress and metabolic hormone levels. Validated EIAs (enzyme immunoassay) will be used to analyse physiological stress levels and resilience (glucocorticoids), and metabolic rate and energy balance (thyroid hormone) from faecal samples.Mixed models will be used to analyse and compare the combined behavioural, ecological and physiological factors affecting activity budgets, energy balance and physiological stress responses and resilience of the two baboon groups. Social network analyses will enable exploration of how social networks vary with anthropogenic space and resource use, and help to examine the behavioural and physiological impact of human interactions and persecution events on close network partners.