Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Predicting Intergroup Relationships in Primates (Two Case Studies)

群体之间的互动是社会生活的一个重要方面，因为它们可以影响个人获得关键资源的机会，从而影响其生殖成功。 灵长类动物，比大多数其他脊椎动物，表现出许多种群体水平的相互作用，但引起这种多样性的因素还没有很好地理解。 例如，群体可以积极或和平地互动;男性和/或女性可以参与;个体可以捍卫对食物、配偶、婴儿和/或其他资源的访问。 本研究将实地测试一个预测框架，旨在解释社会灵长类动物中不同的群体水平的互动模式。 这个框架包括两个预先存在的假设（一个略有修改）关于食物防御的女性和男性，和一个新的假设关于男性防御生育的女性伴侣。 每一种假设都提出了一系列生态和社会条件，在这些条件下，一种资源在经济上是可替代的;也就是说，当与获得所讨论的资源相关的利益超过防御成本时。 为了验证这些假设，将在乌干达的基巴莱国家公园研究灰颊白眉猴和红尾猴的群体水平相互作用。 在这两个物种的群体水平的相互作用的性质还有待研究的人口是附近的环境承载能力，群体竞争有限的资源。 这两个物种是检验假设的理想选择，因为它们具有某些关键特征（因此两个物种的某些预测是相同的），而其他关键特征不同（导致相反的预测）。 该研究包括对每个物种的三个组的行为观察和回放实验，其中来自相邻组的呼叫被播放给研究组，以模仿竞争邻居的存在。将记录雄性和雌性在自然发生和模拟群体接触期间的行为反应。 该研究还将监测食物可获得性的空间和时间变化，以确定食物防御模式的差异是否源于食物可获得性的差异。就像个体之间的竞争一样，社会群体之间的竞争是动物生活中普遍而重要的方面，但决定谁竞争的因素以及在什么条件下竞争的因素却知之甚少。 本研究将阐明社会和生态因素如何在群体冲突中塑造行为策略。虽然目前的研究主要集中在非人类灵长类动物上，但这些发现可能与其他群居脊椎动物有关。

Interactions between groups are an important aspect of social life because they can affect an individual's access to critical resources and thus its reproductive success. Primates, more than most other vertebrates, exhibit many kinds of group-level interactions yet the factors that give rise to this diversity are not well understood. For example, groups may interact aggressively or peacefully; males and/or females may participate; and an individual may defend access to food, mates, infants, and/or other resources. This study will field-test a predictive framework designed to explain the different group-level interaction patterns seen in social primates. This framework consists of two pre-existing hypotheses (one slightly modified) concerning food defense by females and males, and one novel hypothesis concerning male defense of fertile female mates. Each hypothesis proposes a set of ecological and social conditions under which a resource is economically defendable; that is, when the costs of defense are outweighed by the benefits associated with access to the resource in question. To test these hypotheses, the group-level interactions of grey-cheeked mangabeys and redtail monkeys will be examined in Kibale National Park, Uganda. The nature of group-level interactions in these two species has yet to be studied in populations that are near the environmental carrying capacity, where groups compete over limited resources. These two species are ideal for testing the hypotheses because they share certain key characteristics (and thus some predictions are the same for the two species) while differing in other key characteristics (leading to contrasting predictions). The study consists of behavioral observations of three groups of each species and playback experiments, in which calls from neighboring groups are played to the study groups to mimic the presence of competing neighbors. Behavioral responses of males and females during both naturally-occurring and simulated group encounters will be documented. The research will also monitor spatial and temporal variation in food availability to determine whether differences in food defense patterns stem from differences in food availability.Like competition between individuals, competition between social groups is a pervasive and important aspect of animal life, yet the factors that determine who competes, and under what conditions, are poorly understood. This research will clarify how social and ecological factors shape behavioral strategies during group-level conflicts. Although the immediate research is focused on non-human primates, the findings may have relevance for other group-living vertebrates.