Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding the Pair Bond in Callicebus Brunneus: Male and Female Reproductive Interests

一夫一妻制在包括灵长类在内的哺乳动物中很少见，了解一夫一妻制是如何进化和维持的一直是过去30年的研究目标。特别令人感兴趣的是配偶关系：为什么一只雄性和一只雌性会形成一种排他性的、持久的依恋关系？一般来说，这种解释集中在三类利益上：共同保护资源、雄性交配的排他性以及提供雄性服务以提高雌性生殖成功率（例如，父亲的照顾、保护免受捕食者的侵害、保护猎物）。在秘鲁雨林的Los Amigos研究中心和保护区的13个月里，该项目将试图通过检查棕色titi猴子（Callicebus brunneus）配对之间的关系的敏感性来区分这些潜在的好处，这是一种非常响亮和领土的物种，其特点是广泛的父亲照顾和家庭群体中成年男性和女性之间的强烈吸引力。 通过使用观察采样和回放的不熟悉的电话（模拟入侵者），本研究将量化的行为，表明对bondedness圈养titi猴和相关的变化，这些行为的差异，在物理环境（即水果丰富，领土的位置）和社会环境（即接近性竞争对手的主题的配对）。 作为为数不多的一夫一妻制的灵长类动物之一，对明确的债券，Callicebus是理想的适合本研究的问题，这将是一个新的组合详细的行为数据，食物丰富的数据，和回放实验。这项研究将是植物和动物生物学家之间长期合作监测和研究项目的一部分，该项目将直接为亚马逊西南部的保护活动提供信息，亚马逊西南部是世界上生物多样性最丰富的地区之一。除了直接支持美国研究生的培训外，这项研究的资金将有助于通过与秘鲁科学家和非政府组织的合作以及对当地工作人员，社区成员和秘鲁研究生和本科生的培训来提高科学能力灵长类动物自然史和行为生态学的一般方法。

Monogamous systems are rare in mammals, including primates, and understanding how monogamy evolved and is maintained has been a goal of research for the past 30 years. Of special interest has been the pair bond: why should one male and one female form an exclusive and enduring attachment? Explanations have generally centered on three categories of benefits: joint defense of resources, male mating exclusivity, and the delivery of male services that increase female reproductive success (e.g. paternal care, protection from predators, infanticide protection). Over 13 months at the Los Amigos Research Center and Conservation Area in the Peruvian rainforest, this project will attempt to differentiate among these potential benefits by examining the sensitivity of the bond between pairmates of brown titi monkeys (Callicebus brunneus), a highly vocal and territorial species characterized by extensive paternal care and a strong attraction between the adult male and female of a family group. Through the use of observational sampling and playbacks of unfamiliar calls (simulating intruders), this study will quantify the behaviors that have indicated pair-bondedness in captive titi monkeys and correlate changes in these behaviors with differences in the physical environment (i.e. fruit abundance, territory location) and social environment (i.e. proximity of a sexual competitor to the subject's pairmate). As one of the few monogamous primates in which pairs are unambiguously bonded, Callicebus is ideally suited for the questions of this study, which will be addressed with a novel combination of detailed behavioral data, food-abundance data, and playbacks experiments. This research will be part of a long-term collaborative monitoring and research project between plant and animal biologists that will directly inform conservation activities in southwestern Amazonia, one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world. In addition to directly supporting the training of a U.S. graduate student, the funding for this study will help to increase scientific capacity through collaborations with Peruvian scientists and non-governmental organizations as well as the training of local staff, community members, and Peruvian graduate and undergraduate students in primate natural history and general methods of behavioral ecology.