Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Parasite Ecology and Behavioral Socioecology Among Two Primate Species

许多灵长类动物研究中的一个重要主题是自然选择在行为模式形成中所起的作用。然而，研究灵长类生活史和行为生态学的理论方法大大忽视了寄生虫对灵长类的影响。为了说明这一现象的严重性，寄生生物比非寄生生物更多。寄生虫分布无处不在，几乎栖息在所有可用的环境中。因此，寄生虫代表了一种非常自由的生物多样性。寄生虫基本上感染所有多细胞物种，考虑到它们的广泛分布和在塑造生态系统中的重要性，寄生虫的研究不成比例地不足，也没有得到很好的了解。许多研究人员提到寄生虫在塑造灵长类进化史中所起的重要作用。然而，寄生虫通常不是大多数灵长类动物研究的主要主题，而且只被简单提及。这项研究的主要目的是了解两种灵长类宿主-环尾狐猴(狐猴)和Verreaux‘s sifaka(Propithecus Verreauxi)-与它们在马达加斯加贝扎·马哈法利特别保护区自然环境中藏匿的寄生虫之间的相互作用。在这项广泛任务的主持下，有四个具体目标。第一个目标是研究每个物种的社会生态如何影响寄生虫的类型和流行率，包括每个灵长类物种中寄生虫的季节波动。第二个目标是研究环尾狐猴和Verreaux‘s sifaka用来潜在地消除、避免或减少寄生虫感染的行为。第三个目标是确定社会地位和性别如何影响这两个物种的个体寄生虫流行。最后，这个项目试图了解人类改变的栖息地如何影响所有这些模式。这些目标将通过利用行为学和寄生虫学方法来实现。这项研究的更广泛影响可以惠及当地的马哈法利人，以及生活在贝萨马哈法利特别保护区及其周围的环尾狐猴和Verreaux‘s sifaka。随着人类种群的增长和对非人类灵长类栖息地的侵蚀，共域联系正变得异常普遍。从行为学、流行病学、进化论、生态学和人类学的角度理解人类与其非人类灵长类动物之间的相互作用是很有趣的。随着人类和非人类灵长类动物之间的亲密程度增加，人畜共患传染病传播的可能性也在增加，这对人类和非人类灵长类动物都可能产生毁灭性的影响。如果这个竞技场包括濒危物种，这种情况的强度就会增加。拟议的研究结果将有助于当地的马哈法利人和我们的马达加斯加合作者。马哈法利当地导游将被纳入这项研究，因为他们关于该地区当地生态和景观的知识和专业知识是项目成功的基础。从学术角度来看，研究人员致力于与马达加斯加的合作者在保护倡议和未来的出版物方面进行合作。对来源国学者的投资对他们未来的学术努力和维持当地动植物种群的未来极其重要。

An important theme in many primatological studies is the role that natural selection plays upon the shaping of behavioral patterns. However, theoretical approaches to primate life history and behavioral ecology have vastly overlooked the influences of parasites on primates. To illustrate the magnitude of this under representation, there are more parasitic organisms than nonparasitic organisms. Parasite distributions are ubiquitous, inhabiting almost every environment available. Thus, parasites are representative of a very liberal spectrum of biodiversity. Parasites infect essentially all multi-cellular species, and considering their wide distribution and importance in shaping ecosystems, parasites are disproportionately understudied and not well understood. Many researchers make reference to the importance parasites have played in shaping primate evolutionary histories. However, parasites are usually not a primary topic of most primatological studies and are given only a brief mention.The major objective of this study is to understand the interplay between two species of primate hosts, ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) and Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), and the parasites they harbor in a natural setting at the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar. Under the auspices of this broad task are four specific goals. The first goal is to examine how each species' socioecology affects parasite type and prevalence, including seasonal fluctuations of parasites among each primate species. The second goal is to examine the behaviors that ring-tailed lemurs and Verreaux's sifaka utilize to potentially eliminate, avoid, or reduce parasite infections. The third goal is to determine how social rank and sex affects individual parasite prevalence for both species. Finally, this project seeks to understand how an anthropogenically-altered habitat affects all of these patterns. These goals will be achieved by utilizing ethological and parasitological methodologies. The broader impacts of this study can benefit the local Mahafaly people, and the ring-tailed lemurs and Verreaux's sifaka that live in and around the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve. Sympatric associations are becoming exceedingly prevalent as human populations grow and encroach on nonhuman primate habitats. Understanding the interactions between humans and their nonhuman primate counterparts are interesting from behavioral, epidemiological, evolutionary, ecological, and anthropological perspective. As the intimacy between humans and nonhuman primates increase, so does the likelihood of zoonotic transmissions, which can have devastating effects for humans and nonhuman primate alike. The intensity of such a scenario increases if this arena includes endangered species. The results of the proposed study will be helpful to the local Mahafaly people and our Malagasy collaborators. Local Mahafaly guides will be incorporated into this study, as their knowledge and expertise regarding the local ecology and landscape of this region is fundamental to the project's success. From an academic perspective, the researchers are committed to working with Malagasy collaborators on conservation initiatives and future publications. Investing in source-country scholars is extremely important for their future academic endeavors and the future of sustaining endemic animal and plant populations.