Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Nutritional Goals and Nutrient Prioritization across Variant Habitats in an Omnivorous Primate

环境背景是包括人类在内的动物饮食和饮食行为形成的一个核心方面，但栖息地变化与饮食中特定常量营养素优先顺序之间的联系尚未被很好地了解。缺乏关于栖息地如何塑造大量营养素管理行为的知识是现代饮食行为的特征，也是从进化的角度来看的。在人类中，已经发现了蛋白质优先排序的证据，即个体允许其他营养物质在固定的蛋白质水平上下波动。这种被称为“蛋白质杠杆”的营养平衡模式被认为是现代肥胖症流行的一个原因，即人类将过度消耗能量来满足蛋白质需求。人类饮食行为的这一方面被认为是在稀树草原环境下的人类进化史中产生的，在稀树草原环境中，可获得的食物含有比例较高的蛋白质，但脂肪和碳水化合物含量有限。为了充分了解栖息地和季节性如何影响人类祖先在现代背景下持续存在的饮食优先顺序，本论文项目将利用灵长类动物模型--野生狒狒，它和人类一样，以杂食性饮食以及生态和饮食灵活性而闻名。通过比较这些灵长类动物在不同的栖息地和具有不同常量营养素组成的可用食物的季节性波动，研究将评估环境背景如何塑造饮食，包括栖息地如何在进化时间尺度上塑造人类的饮食优先顺序。栖息地如何塑造饮食和营养优先顺序的建模将基于两种不同栖息地的雌性Papio Anubis营养优先顺序的比较数据，乌干达的森林和肯尼亚的稀树草原环境。这项研究将由纽约城市大学的女博士生凯莉·约翰逊在杰西卡·罗斯曼博士的指导下进行。将根据食物可获得性和丰度的季节性变化来评估个人营养摄入量数据，并将采用营养几何框架(GF)。GF是一种多维分析方法，应用于研究营养生态学，包括确定营养物质的饮食优先顺序，以及跨物种和在不同物种内平衡常量营养素。实地考察工作将包括在乌干达Kibale国家公园为期12个月的数据收集，以及在肯尼亚莱基皮亚为期6个月的雨季和旱季数据收集。除了阐明决定人类等杂食性灵长类动物饮食和营养优先顺序的环境条件外，该项目还将扩大其在各个方向的影响。这些数据与为同一地区收集的稳定同位素数据配对将发现额外的价值；这将改进对东非化石人和鹦鹉化石(早期人类和狒狒祖先)的稳定同位素古饮食分析的解释。加强对森林环境中狒狒生态的理解将产生营养、生态和灵长类行为的独特综合，这将促进对行为和生态的种内差异的洞察。由于这项研究的范围是国际的，将促进美国大学和学生与非洲大学和机构的科学合作，促进教育和增强研究能力。

Environmental context is a core aspect in the shaping of diet and dietary behavior in animals, including humans, but the linkages between habitat variation and prioritization of particular macronutrients in diet is not well understood. This lack of knowledge regarding how habitat shapes macronutrient management behavior is characteristic of modern dietary behavior, as well as from an evolutionary perspective. In humans, evidence has been found for protein prioritization, whereby individuals allow fluctuation of other nutrients around a fixed protein level. Termed 'protein leverage,' this pattern of nutrient balancing has been implicated as a causal factor in the modern obesity epidemic, whereby humans will over-consume energy to meet their protein needs. This aspect of human dietary behavior is hypothesized to have arisen from human evolutionary history in the context of a savanna environment, one in which available foods are proportionally high in protein, but limited in fats and carbohydrates. In order to fully understand how habitat and seasonality may have influenced diet priorities in human ancestry which persist in the modern context, this dissertation project will utilize a primate model, wild baboons, which, like humans, are known for their omnivorous diet and their ecological and dietary flexibility. By comparing these primates across varying habitats and seasonal fluctuations in available food items with variant macronutrient composition, the research will assess how diet may be shaped by environmental context, including how habitat may have shaped human dietary priorities over evolutionary timescales.The modeling of how differences in habitat shape diet and nutritional priorities will be based on comparative data on the nutritional priorities of female Papio anubis in two different habitats, a forest in Uganda and a savanna environment in Kenya. The research will be conducted by a female doctoral student, Caley Johnson, under the supervision of Dr. Jessica Rothman, City University of New York. Individual nutritional intake data will be assessed in the context of seasonal shifts in the availability and abundance of food, and will employ the Geometric Framework of Nutrition (GF). The GF is a multidimensional analytical approach which has application to research investigating nutritional ecology, including determination of dietary prioritization of nutrients and balancing of macronutrients across species and within species occupying variant habitats. The fieldwork will encompass 12 months of data collection in Kibale National Park, Uganda, and 6 months in Laikipia, Kenya, across wet and dry seasons.In addition to elucidating the environmental conditions that shape diet and nutrient priorities in omnivorous primates such as humans, this project also will broaden its impact in various directions. The data will find additional value added in pairing with stable isotope data collected for the same areas; this will improve interpretation of stable isotope paleodietary analysis of East African fossil hominins and papionins (early human and baboon ancestors). The enhancement of understanding of baboon ecology in forested environments will generate a unique synthesis of nutrition, ecology, and primate behavior that will promote insights into intraspecific variation in behavior and ecology. As the research is international in scope, there will be fostering of scientific collaborations of US universities and students with African universities and institutions, promoting education and enhancing research capacity.