Energetic Costs of Feeding in Primates

本研究的重点是收集灵长类动物摄食能量成本的新数据，以在摄食器官功能形态的实验室研究与灵长类动物摄食生态学和生活史研究之间建立新的联系。 这项研究为旨在将进化形态学与灵长类动物生态学和生活史联系起来的新研究提供了基础，这种联系跨越了生物人类学中的多个学科。 结果将被放置在进化的背景下，通过评估其对化石灵长类动物，特别是人类进化过程中的饮食和喂养生态学的解释的影响。 除了培训研究生和本科生外，这项研究还将把教育推广作为优先事项，并将通过在当地科学博览会和K-12教室的演讲进行。摄食的生物力学和生态学为理解灵长类的适应和进化提供了基础数据。然而，缺乏关于喂养能量成本的比较数据集是知识上的一个主要差距，限制了我们理解喂养过程中发生的生物力学事件以及影响生态环境中喂养的选择性压力的能力。呼吸测定法是一种非侵入性技术，用于测量动物在休息或活动时产生的能量成本（氧气的使用和二氧化碳的产生）。同时收集呼吸测定数据和包括人类在内的14种灵长类动物进食期间行为的数字视频记录。还收集了数据喂养期间的六种食物类型，包括灵长类动物的饮食范围。从这些数据中，喂养的能量成本将被量化。六个具体的目标解决喂养对灵长类动物的活动预算的影响，并解决关键的能量为基础的问题之间的关系饮食，结构的喂养装置，这些结构的功能在喂养。研究结果将产生新的数据，将摄食生物力学与摄食生态学、生物能量学和生活史联系起来。明确的假设关注的规模，解剖变异，和食品材料的性质和框架结构功能行为的问题，有关的喂养器具的生态和生活史变量的方式，跨越多个科学学科的影响。物种样本的主要优势在于其在生殖发育、饮食（食虫动物、成熟水果专家、食叶动物和杂食动物）和身体大小方面的广泛范围。化石记录中通常保存的解剖特征的结合为化石灵长类动物（包括化石人类）的摄食生态和能量预算提供了新的解释。

This research focuses on collecting novel data on the energetic costs of feeding in primates to generate new connections between lab-based studies of the functional morphology of the feeding apparatus and studies of primate feeding ecology and life history. This study provides a foundation for new research aimed at linking evolutionary morphology to primate ecology and life history in a way that cuts across multiple disciplines within biological anthropology. Results will be placed in an evolutionary context by evaluating their implications for the interpretation of diet and feeding ecology in fossil primates and, specifically, during human evolution. In addition to training graduate and undergraduate students, this research will have educational outreach as a priority and will occur through presentations at local science fairs and in K-12 classrooms. The biomechanics and ecology of feeding provide fundamental data for understanding primate adaptation and evolution. However, the lack of a comparative dataset on the energetic costs of feeding is a major gap in knowledge that limits our ability to understand the biomechanical events that occur during feeding and the selective pressures that influence feeding in an ecological context. Respirometry is a non-invasive technique that measures the energetic costs (the use of oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide) an animal incurs while at rest or performing activities. Respirometry data are collected simultaneously with digital video recordings of behaviors during feeding in fourteen primate species, including humans. Data are also collected during feeding on six food types that encompass the range of primate diets. From these data, the energetic costs of feeding will be quantified. Six specific aims address the impact of feeding on the activity budgets of primates and address key energetics-based questions about the relationship between diet, structures of the feeding apparatus, and the functions of these structures during feeding. The results will generate new data for connecting feeding biomechanics with feeding ecology, bio-energetics, and life history. Explicit hypotheses concern effects of scale, anatomical variation, and food material properties and frame structure-function-behavior questions about the feeding apparatus in relation to ecological and life history variables in a way that cuts across multiple scientific disciplines. The main strength of the species sample is its broad range in terms of phylogeny, diet (insectivores, ripe fruit specialists, folivores and omnivores), and body size. The incorporation of anatomical traits that are commonly preserved in the fossil record provides the potential for new interpretations of the feeding ecology and energy budgets of fossil primates, including fossil humans.