Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining causes and consequences of variation in male reproductive success in wild primates

在非人类灵长类动物中，观察到一系列与雄性成功交配后代有关的雄性行为。这篇博士论文研究项目考察了不同雄性策略(攻击性和附着性)在野生狐猴(灵长类)中的生殖回报。这项研究的结果为男性生殖策略的进化提供了有价值的见解，并将增进对长寿灵长类物种中男女社会纽带适应意义的理解。在进行拟议的研究时，这位博士生将继续与来自代表性不足社区的K-12学生合作，培养人们对科学和研究的热情，并在当地小学发表关于灵长类行为和进化的演讲。此外，这位博士生将在整个论文研究期间继续在实验室培训本科生，并指导灵长类动物学中代表性较低的群体中的女性。这项研究调查了不同的男性行为策略如何影响狐猴的繁殖成功。雄性狐狸通过成为一个由多只雌性及其后代组成的家庭的主要领导者而获得繁殖机会。因此，男性生殖是群体中有生育能力的女性数量以及他保持主导领导地位的时间(任期长度)的函数。拟议的项目将使用长期数据(收集了13年)，并结合个人已知的领头羊雄性的详细行为、荷尔蒙和亲子关系数据，来评估哪些因素对雄性生殖成功有贡献。首先，研究人员将通过对该项目中所有领队男性和婴儿进行基因分型来分配父子关系，以衡量生殖成功。其次，他们将量化可能影响狐狸繁殖成功的物理属性。这些指标包括：i)身体大小(通过激光摄影测量测量)，ii)胸部斑块发红(通过将Gelada胸部贴片的照片与标准颜色格子图进行比较来测量)，以及iii)使用从个体领头羊雄性身上收集的粪便样本的睾酮水平(通过生物素标记的酶免疫分析测量)。第三，调查人员将通过行为观察量化男女社会关系并记录婴儿的发生情况，评估男性采用哪些社会策略来提高生育成功率。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。

In nonhuman primates a range of male behaviors are observed that relate to male success in siring offspring. This doctoral dissertation research project examines reproductive payoffs of different male strategies (aggressive versus affiliative) in wild geladas (primates). Results from this study provide valuable insights about the evolution of male reproductive strategies and will enhance understanding about the adaptive significance of male-female social bonds in a long-lived primate species. While conducting the proposed research, the doctoral student will continue to work with K-12 students from underrepresented communities to foster excitement about science and research and give talks about primate behavior and evolution at local elementary schools. Additionally, the doctoral student will continue training undergraduate students in the laboratory throughout her dissertation research and mentor women from groups underrepresented in primatology.This research investigates how different male behavioral strategies affect reproductive success in geladas. Male geladas gain reproductive opportunities by becoming the dominant leader over a family of multiple females and their offspring. Male reproduction is thus a function of the number of fertile females in the group combined with how long he remains the dominant leader (tenure length). The proposed project will use long term data (collected over 13 years) in combination with detailed behavioral, hormonal, and paternity data from individually known leader males to assess which factors contribute to male reproductive success. First, the investigators will measure reproductive success by assigning paternity through genotyping all leader males and infants in the project. Second, they will quantify physical attributes that could affect reproductive success in geladas. These include: i) body size (measured through laser photogrammetry), ii) chest patch redness (measured by comparing photos of gelada chest patch against a standard color checker chart), and iii) testosterone levels using fecal samples collected from individual leader males (measured through a biotin labelled enzyme-immunoassay). Third, the investigators will assess what social strategies males employ to increase reproductive success by quantifying male-female social relationships through behavioral observations and recording the occurrence of infanticide.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.