相比其他动物，人类具有许多独特的行为和生活史特征。对人类行为的研究一直是理论研究和实验研究的焦点，但许多问题还没有得到令人满意的回答。人类行为生态学是将行为生态学的基本原理用于人类行为研究的一门学科，为人类行为的研究提供了崭新的工具和全新的视角。合作行为的进化是进化生物学中最重要的理论问题之一。跨文化博弈实验研究表明文化背景、经济水平、亲属制度和亲缘关系对合作行为均有显著影响。不同的婚后居住形式代表了不同的扩散模式，并将对家庭结构、亲属制度、和亲缘关系产生重要影响。因此研究婚后居住形式本身的进化机制和其在合作行为进化中的作用也具有重要的理论意义。本研究将应用行为生态学理论，结合人口信息调查、实验博弈和理论模型分析，研究中国西南横断山区少数民族摩梭人、普米族、彝族和藏族的婚后居住形式和合作行为，探讨不同民族婚后居住形式的适应性机制，以及特定的婚后居住形式对人类合作行为的影响。

Humans show many unique behaviors and life history patterns compared to other animals. Why do we behavior like this is of particular interests to scientists. Yet many questions are remaining unsolved.The study of human behavior can help to understand deeply the evolutionary history of human species, and also provides valuable information for policy making and social organization. Emerged in 1970s, Human behavior ecology is focusing on applying theories of behavior ecology to the study of human behavior, it provides the new tool and gives new insights on understanding the adaptiveness of human behavior.The evolution of cooperation is one of the most important theoretical question in evolutionary biology. Cross-cultural studies using economic games have showed that economic status, cultural norms, kinship systems, and relatedness all show important effects on human cooperation behavior. Post-marital residence patterns specify dispersal strategies of men and women, and determine kinship, family structure, reproductive conflict and local relatedness, thus it is of great importance to study the effect of post-marital residence on cooperation behavior.The aim of the present proposal will be to use the latest quantitative and theoretical tools of human behavioral ecology to understand the evolution of complex post-marital residence patterns and cooperation behavior of the minorities Mosuo, Yi, Pumi, and Tibetan in Southwestern China, and to examine cross-culturally the effect of post-marital residence on cooperation.