LTREB: Female Settlement Patterns and Social Relationships in Chimpanzees, a Male-Philopatric Species

社会联系极大地影响着人类健康。通过研究黑猩猩（人类的近亲）的社会关系的影响因素来研究人类关系的进化基础，将揭示社会关系是如何以及为什么重要的。黑猩猩和人类一样，在哺乳动物中是很不寻常的，因为雄性留在它们出生的群体中，而大多数雌性在青春期加入另一个群体。亲属关系是友好关系的强大基础，但分散的雌性必须离开自己的亲属，加入不相关的群体，其中许多人对这些新的竞争者充满敌意。这个项目利用了Jane Goodall在1960年发起的对贡贝黑猩猩独特的长期实地研究，研究影响雌性是否分散的因素，它们如何融入一个新的社区，它们与其他雌性建立的关系，以及它们如何从这些纽带中受益。通过科学论文、媒体、电影纪录片和广泛访问的网站传播的结果将使这些标志性的黑猩猩留在公众的视线中，并将继续吸引年轻人（尤其是女性）进入科学领域。该项目涉及来自代表性不足群体的本科生，并向坦桑尼亚人提供科学培训和教育经验。它为贡贝周围和整个非洲的社区保护工作提供了重要信息。在十年研究计划的前半部分，目标是汇编和分析40年来空间明确的生态和行为数据，以确定影响女性分布和社会关联的因素，并开始收集三个社区中年轻女性定居时的行为数据。在接下来的5年里，第一个目标是继续收集成熟雌性的数据，以产生足够的样本来检验雌性定居是基于优质资源的位置、常驻雌性的密度和优势等级以及相关或熟悉雌性的存在的假设。第二个目标是收集成年女性行为的详细数据，以检验最初分析关于女性关系的性质和后果所产生的假设。社会关系是否通过联合侵略增强了争夺资源和/或统治地位的能力？与其他母亲的联系是否通过促进与男性同伴的互动而使男性后代受益？研究结果将有助于更好地理解黑猩猩的行为，并为考虑哺乳动物社会组织和人类关系的进化提供基础。数据汇编在一个关系数据库中，存储在杜克大学，供世界各地的同事使用。

Social connectedness greatly affects human health. Investigation of the evolutionary basis of human relationships through study of factors influencing social bonding in chimpanzees, humans' closest living relatives, will reveal how and why social bonds are important. Chimpanzees, like humans, are very unusual among mammals in that males remain in their birth group, while most females join another group at adolescence. Kinship is a powerful basis for friendly bonds, but dispersing females must leave their kin and join groups of unrelated individuals, many of which are hostile to these new competitors. This project takes advantage of the uniquely long-term field study of the Gombe chimpanzees, initiated by Jane Goodall in 1960, to examine factors influencing whether females disperse, how they integrate into a new community, the kinds of relationships they establish with other females, and how they benefit from these bonds. Results, disseminated in scientific papers, the press, film documentaries, and widely visited websites will keep these iconic chimpanzees in the public eye, and will continue to draw young people (especially women) into science. The project involves undergraduates from underrepresented groups and provides scientific training and education experience to Tanzanians. It provides crucial information for community conservation efforts around Gombe and across Africa.In the first half of the decadal research plan, the objectives have been to compile and analyze 40 years of spatially-explicit ecological and behavioral data to identify factors influencing female distribution and social association, and to initiate collection of behavioral data on young females in three communities as they settle. In the next 5 years, the first objective is to continue data collection on maturing females to produce a sufficient sample to test the hypothesis that female settlement is based on the location of high quality resources, the density and dominance rank of resident females, and the presence of related or familiar females. The second objective is to collect detailed data on adult female behavior to test hypotheses arising from initial analyses about the nature and consequences of female relationships. Do social bonds enhance the ability to compete for resources and/or dominance via coalitionary aggression? Do bonds with other mothers benefit male offspring by promoting their interactions with male peers? Results will contribute to greater understanding of chimpanzee behavior and provide a basis from which to consider the evolution of mammalian social organization and human relationships. Data are compiled in a relational database, stored at Duke University and available to colleagues, worldwide.