Dissertation Research: The Ecological Influences on Activity Cycle in Two Cathemeral Lemurid Primates, Eulemur mongoz and Eulemur fulvus fulvus

绝大多数灵长类动物，包括人类，对夜间(夜间活动)或白天(白天活动)的生活方式具有解剖学和行为适应能力。然而，马达加斯加的一群原猴灵长类动物表现出截然不同的活动周期，在白天或晚上的任何时间都有可能活动。虽然这种24小时的活动在其他哺乳动物物种中很常见，但在灵长类动物中却极为罕见。因此，在这项拟议的论文研究中，将收集15个月的数据来研究两个狐猴物种--猫猴(Eulemur Mongoz)和普通棕色狐猴(Eulemur Fulvus Fulvus)的24小时活动。这项研究将在马达加斯加西北部安卡拉芬西卡自然保护区的热带干燥森林中进行。具体地说，这项研究将试图确定这些灵长类动物的24小时活动是否受到其自然环境特征的驱动，如食物供应、捕食者压力和气候。此外，这项研究还将检查狐猴的白天和夜间行为是否存在任何差异。这项研究的结果将被用来生成一个模型，解释为什么24小时的活动周期适合这些灵长类动物，并更好地理解活动周期在人类和非人类灵长类动物进化史上的重要性。

The vast majority of primates, including humans, possesses anatomical and behavioral adaptations for either a nocturnal (night-active) or diurnal (day-active) lifestyle. A group of prosimian primates in Madagascar, however, displays a distinctly different activity cycle where there is a potential for activity at any time of the day or night. Although such 24-hour activity is common among other mammalian species, it is extremely unusual in primates. Therefore, in this proposed dissertation study, fifteen months of data will be collected to examine the 24-hour activity in two lemur species, the mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz) and the common brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus fulvus). The research will be conducted in the tropical dry forest of Ankarafantsika Nature Reserve in northwest Madagascar. Specifically, this study will attempt to determine whether 24-hour activity in these primates is driven by such features of their natural environment as food availability, predator pressure, and climate. In addition, this study will examine whether any differences exist between the lemurs' daytime and nighttime behavior. The results of this research will be used to generate a model explaining why a 24-hour activity cycle is adaptive for these primates, and to also reach a better understanding of the importance of activity cycle in the evolutionary history of human and non-human primates.