Physiological and Behavioral Responses to a Temperate Primate Niche Using a Strepsirrhine Model

几乎所有的灵长类动物都是热带哺乳动物，只有少数物种生活在温带环境中。灵长类动物如何适应非热带环境？这项研究使用最先进的非侵入性技术来扩大我们对野生灵长类动物生理学，代谢和行为适应环境压力的理解，这些压力通常不会在热带栖息地内遇到。结果将告知我们的灵长类动物的生理学，身体大小的变化，并在更多的季节性栖息地的进化历史的理解。该项目提供了各种关键的学生研究经验，包括本科生的研究机会（包括来自代表性不足的群体的学生），在现场和分析方法的学生培训，并指导学生在生产硕士和博士项目。该项目将促进国际研究合作和实地能力建设。此外，该项目将提供重要的知识，促进动物园灵长类动物的有效饲养和管理，并将为国际生命条形码计划提供DNA数据，以跟踪灵长类动物偷猎和非法肉类贸易。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助，将采取广泛的比较方法来了解两种体型差异巨大的夜行灵长类动物对温带栖息地压力生态的反应。Otolemur crassicaudatus（3.3磅）和Galago moholi（5.15盎司）将在位于Soutpansberg山脉高处的Lajuma研究中心进行研究，其特点是温带气候，冬季寒冷潮湿，夏季温暖炎热潮湿。评估生理反应的方法包括来自毛发样本的同位素生态学（这将有助于表征每个物种数月的饮食），代谢组学（在分子水平上提供相对营养），粪便样本的营养生态学和应激激素，以及与栖息地应激源相关的健康和牙科生态学评估。行为比较将通过使用便携式专业级热成像设备和红外摄像机对每个物种的体温调节进行实时评估，从而可以在夜间跟踪期间远程记录灵长类动物的体温。这些比较数据是相关的评估灵长类动物适应的局限性，了解祖先灵长类动物如何介导过去的环境变化，并澄清灵长类动物的弹性在不断变化的环境条件下的机制和生理模式。

Nearly all primates are tropical mammals, with only a handful of species living in temperate environments. How do primates adapt to non-tropical environments? This study uses state-of-the-art, non-invasive techniques to expand our understanding of wild primate physiology, metabolism and behavioral adaptations to environmental stressors not normally encountered within tropical habitats. Results will inform our understanding of primate physiology, body size variation, and evolutionary history in more seasonal habitats. This project offers a variety of key student research experiences that include undergraduate research opportunities (including for students from underrepresented groups), student training in field and analytic methods, and mentoring students in the production of both MSc and PhD projects. The project will foster international research collaborations and capacity building at the field location. In addition, the project will provide important knowledge facilitating effective husbandry and management of zoo primates, and will contribute DNA data to the International Barcode of Life Program to track primate poaching and illegal bushmeat trade. This project is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.A broadly comparative approach will be taken to understand how two nocturnal primate species of dramatically different body sizes react to the stressful ecology of temperate habitats. Otolemur crassicaudatus (3.3 lbs) and Galago moholi (5.15oz) will be studied at the Lajuma Research Centre, located high in the Soutpansberg Mountains and characterized by a temperate climate with cold humid winters and warm-to-hot humid summers. Methodology to assess physiological responses include isotopic ecology from hair samples (which will help characterize each species' diet across months), metabolomics (which provides relative nutrition at the molecular level), nutritional ecology and stress hormones from fecal samples, and assessment of health and dental ecology in relation to habitat stressors. Behavioral comparisons will provide real-time assessment of each species' thermoregulation by using portable, professional-grade thermal imaging devices and infrared cameras, allowing remote recording of the primate's body temperature throughout nightly follows. Such comparative data are relevant for evaluating the limitations of primate adaptation, for understanding how ancestral primates mediated past environmental change, and for clarifying the mechanisms and physiological patterns underlying primate resilience in changing environmental conditions.