Dissertation Research: Interspecific and Ontogenetic Variation in Positional Behavior and Habitat Use in Cebus apella and Cebus olivaceus in Guyana

灵长类进化生物学和生物人类学的主要目标之一是了解灵长类肌肉骨骼系统中形式和功能之间的关系，从而深入了解这些特征如何在自然环境中提供适应性益处。了解环境因素如何影响动物一生中运动和姿势行为的变化，可以揭示有关特定物种的成年动物如何适应其特定环境的重要信息。研究人员提出了一项综合研究，将对两种南美猴子(Cebus apella和Cebus olivaceus)的位置行为进行现场观察，并对森林结构和骨骼解剖进行详细分析，以回答有关圭亚那共域棕色和哭泣卷尾猴的运动行为、栖息地利用和后颅形态差异的问题。他们将调查成虫的物种间差异以及两个物种中每一个物种的年龄组差异。这两只卷尾猴是研究的理想对象，就像这里提出的那样。首先，它们一起出现在圭亚那的同一片森林中，可以评估行为和栖息地使用的差异，同时控制可用栖息地和资源可获得性的季节性变化等因素。其次，在所有类人猿中，卷尾猴的生活史特征与类人猿和人类最相似。它们的长寿命为在本研究过程中观察到谨慎的、基于年龄的行为和栖息地使用的变化提供了更大的可能性。这个项目被设计成在一个发展框架内对行为、环境和形态之间的关系进行一般测试。拟议的工作将为越来越多的研究提供重大贡献，这些研究侧重于发育在灵长类肌肉骨骼系统进化中的作用，并将解决关于灵长类运动和姿势适应的行为和形态基础的想法。

One of the major goals of primate evolutionary biology and biological anthropology is to understand the relationships between form and function in the primate musculoskeletal system, thereby gaining insight into how such traits provide adaptive benefits in the natural environment. Knowledge of how environmental factors influence changes in locomotor and postural behaviors throughout an animal's life can uncover important information concerning how adults of a given species are adapted to their particular environment. The researchers propose an integrative study that will combine field observations of positional behavior of two species of South American monkeys (Cebus apella and Cebus olivaceus) with detailed analyses of forest structure and skeletal anatomy in order to answer questions concerning the differences in locomotor behavior, habitat use and postcranial morphology in sympatric brown and weeper capuchin monkeys in Guyana. They will investigate between-species differences in adults and age-group differences within each of the two species. These two capuchins are ideal subjects for a study such as the one proposed here. First, their presence together in the same forests in Guyana allows an assessment of differences in behavior and habitat use while controlling for factors such as available habitat and seasonal variation in resource availability. Second, of all the anthropoid monkeys, capuchins exhibit life history traits most similar to apes and humans. Their long life span affords a greater possibility of observing discreet, age-based changes in behavior and habitat use over the course of this study. This project is designed as a general test of the relationships among behavior, environment and morphology within a developmental framework. The work proposed will provide a major contribution to a growing body of research which focuses on the role of development in the evolution of primate musculoskeletal systems and will address ideas concerning the behavioral and morphological bases for locomotor and postural adaptations in primates.