Integrating genetic, morphological, behavioral and demographic data to investigate primate life history

由于通常只保存了骨骼和牙齿，解释人类和灵长类化石记录变得复杂。然而，灵长类和人类生物学的许多重要方面都与软组织的变异有关，例如发育和生长所需的脂肪储存程度，或运动或物种内竞争所需的肌肉发育程度。在这个项目中，研究人员将在波多黎各卡约圣地亚哥的恒河猴种群中调查骨骼、软组织和整个生命周期中生殖之间的关系。该项目将促进对非人类灵长类动物形态、功能和行为之间基本关系的了解，这可以帮助我们了解过去的灵长类动物和人类生物学。该项目是纽约大学(NYU)和波多黎各加勒比灵长类动物研究中心之间研究倡议的重要组成部分，并建立在现有倡议的基础上，以保护和管理作为宝贵生物数据资源的卡约圣地亚哥骨骼收集为基础。此外，在美国大陆和波多黎各，教育和公共接入计划将为代表不足的少数族裔学生提供许多参与STEM研究的机会。化石记录中通常没有软组织，这给从骨骼数据评估生殖生活史带来了巨大的挑战，以便估计自然选择所作用的表型变异，并重建我们物种的进化。这项研究将结合对两个完整的社会群体的软组织测量，以及对整个圣地亚哥卡约成年人骨骼收集、人口统计学、遗传亲子关系和行为数据的详细分析，这些数据收集了60多年。研究人员将确定骨骼特征的变异是否以及在多大程度上与两组中身体大小、体重、身体脂肪和肌肉大小的肉质测量有关；确定骨骼和软组织特征变异的遗传和环境来源；以及确定骨骼标记和软组织标记在多大程度上预测女性和男性的繁殖力和寿命差异。这些方法将结合对软组织和硬组织的形态测量和定量遗传学方法。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Interpreting the human and primate fossil record is complicated by the fact that typically only skeletons and teeth are preserved. Yet many important aspects of primate and human biology are linked to variation in soft tissues, such as the degree of fat storage required for development and growth, or the degree of muscle development required for locomotion or within-species competition. In this project, the researchers will investigate the relationships among skeletons, soft-tissues, and reproduction across the lifespan, in the rhesus monkey population of Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. The project will advance knowledge about fundamental relationships among form, function, and behavior in non-human primates, which can inform our understanding of past primate and human biology. The project is an important part of research initiatives between New York University (NYU) and the Caribbean Primate Research Center, Puerto Rico, and builds on current initiatives to preserve and curate the Cayo Santiago skeletal collection as a valuable biological data resource. In addition, educational and public access programs will provide many opportunities for underrepresented minority students to participate in STEM research, both in the continental US and in Puerto Rico. The usual absence of soft-tissues from the fossil record presents a big challenge for assessing reproductive life histories from skeletal data in order to estimate the phenotypic variation on which natural selection acted, and to reconstruct the evolution of our species. This study will combine soft-tissue measurements of two entire social groups with detailed analyses of the entire Cayo Santiago adult skeletal collection, demographic, genetic parentage, and behavioral data, collected over more than six decades. The researchers will determine whether and to what extent variation in skeletal traits relates to fleshed measures of body size, body mass, body fat, and muscle size in two groups; determine the genetic and environmental sources of variation in both skeletal and soft tissue traits, and; determine the extent to which skeletal markers and soft tissue markers predict differences in fecundity and longevity in both females and males. The methods will combine morphometric measurement of both soft and hard tissues with quantitative genetic approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.