Doctoral Dissertation Research: Maternal early life adversity, maternal care, and offspring survival

生长发育过程中的不利环境条件会影响以后的生理功能和健康。本论文项目将在灵长类动物模型系统中研究灵长类动物母亲的早期逆境是否会影响其后代的性状。利用对长寿灵长类自然种群的纵向和新收集的数据，研究人员可以研究代际效应，这可能为进化理论和人类健康研究提供信息，而无需从人类那里获得多代生活史数据。该项目将支持国际研究合作、公共和K-12科学推广，以及为STEM领域中代表性不足的群体的学生提供科学培训和指导。自1971年以来，人们几乎每天都对安博塞利狒狒进行观察，从而获得了广泛的纵向人口统计、环境和行为数据。研究人员将利用这些现有数据与新收集的孕产妇护理数据来检验一种假设，即在发育时期经历逆境的母亲对后代的孕产妇护理质量相对较低，导致后代生存不足。因此，这项研究将促进对压力代际传递的近似机制的了解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Adverse environmental conditions during growth and development can affect physiological function and well-being later in life. This dissertation project will investigate, in a primate model system, whether early-life adversity in primate mothers additionally influences traits in their offspring. Using longitudinal and newly collected data for a natural population of long-lived primates allows researchers to investigate intergenerational effects that may inform evolutionary theory and human health research without having to obtain multi-generation life history data from humans. The project will support international research collaborations, public and K-12 science outreach, and scientific training and mentoring for students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. The Amboseli baboons have been under near-daily observation since 1971, resulting in extensive longitudinal demographic, environmental, and behavioral data. The investigators will use these existing data in conjunction with newly collected data on maternal care to test the hypothesis that mothers who experienced adversity during their developmental period provide relatively low quality maternal care to their offspring, leading to deficits in offspring survival. The research will therefore advance knowledge about proximate mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of stress.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.