Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Kinship and Multi-level Groups: Examining the genetic and social structure of the gelada (Theropithecus gelada)

群体生活给群体内的个体带来了各种各样的好处，包括捕食者的发现、防御和高食物获取率。与近亲形成群体的动物也可能受益于以最小成本帮助亲属的机会，从而增加了助手的间接适应性。亲属群体中的个体也通过减少群体内的攻击性、降低自杀风险和联盟支持获得直接的适应性优势。然而，我们对亲属关系影响的了解，大部分来自相对简单、单一层次的社会体系。我们对亲属关系如何在复杂的、多层次的社会中运作知之甚少，比如现代人类。此外，直到最近，只有长期研究才有家谱数据来绘制母系亲属。现在，将联合收割机非侵入性采样与基于PCR的基因分型相结合的遗传技术使研究人员能够评估缺乏关系数据的物种中的相关性和社会系统之间的相互作用。该项目将这些新的遗传技术和详细的行为观察应用于狒狒（Theropithecus gelada）不寻常的高度复杂的社会系统。狮尾狒狒生活在大型的、多层次的社会系统中，类似于许多人类狩猎采集社会。狮尾狒狒的社会结构似乎比它们的近亲狒狒复杂得多。因此，本研究为哺乳动物的亲缘关系-行为相互作用和复杂社会的进化提供了重要的新数据。 该项目与密歇根大学的狮尾狒狒研究项目（UMGRP）合作，提供了关于狮尾狒狒的遗传和行为信息，这些信息被世界保护联盟列为“稀有”。该项目雇用了埃塞俄比亚科学家和护林员，并建立了多直觉和跨学科的合作。共同PI参加社区外展讲座，埃塞俄比亚导游，游客和当地K-12学生，以及给美国东北部的小学生演讲。

Group living confers a variety of benefits to individuals within the group, including predator detection, defense and high rates of food acquisition. Animals that form groups with close genetic relatives may also benefit from opportunities to help kin at minimal cost, thus increasing the helper's indirect fitness. Individuals in kin groups also gain direct fitness advantages through decreased within group aggression, lowered risk of infanticide, and coalitionary support. However, much of what we know about the effects of kinship comes from relatively simple, single level social systems. We know very little about how kinship works in complex, multi-level societies like those found in modern humans. Moreover, until recently only long-term studies have had the pedigree data to map maternal relatives. Now, genetic techniques that combine non-invasive sampling with PCR-based genotyping allow researchers to evaluate the interaction between relatedness and social systems in species where relationship data are lacking. This project applies these new genetic techniques and detailed behavioral observation to the unusual, highly complex social system of gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada). Geladas live in large, multi-level social systems resembling those of many human hunter-gatherer societies. Gelada social structure appears to be considerably more complex than that of their close phylogenetic relatives, the well-studied baboons. Therefore this research provides important new data on kinship-behavior interactions and the evolution of complex societies in mammals. This project, in collaboration with the University of Michigan Gelada Research Project (UMGRP), offers both genetic and behavioral information on geladas, which are listed as "rare" by the World Conservation Union. The project employs Ethiopian scientists and rangers, and established both multi-intuitional and interdisciplinary collaborations. The co-PI participates in community outreach lectures to Ethiopian guides, tourists, and local K-12 students, as well as giving presentations to elementary school students in the Northeast U.S.