Doctoral Dissertation Research: Multi-scale movement behavior in primates

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。运动是灵长类生命的一个基本方面，因为它是生存、繁殖、适应和进化的关键。在细微尺度上，运动通过其在觅食行为、捕食者回避和配偶获得中的作用来影响个体的生存和繁殖，而更大规模的运动可以通过其在扩散、种群连通性和基因流动中的作用来影响局部适应和物种形成。这个博士论文项目调查了灵长类动物细微和大规模的运动决定如何反映其环境的空间和时间变异性。这项研究为人类土地利用及其对灵长类动物迁徙的影响提供了重要的见解，为当地重新造林从业人员提供了关键信息，以帮助指导他们的保护工作。此外，该项目加强了研究基础设施，并有助于教育和培训学生，包括STEM中代表性不足的群体的个人和普通公众。为了评估环境对褶皱狐猴多尺度迁徙的影响，该项目有两个主要目标：(1)评估细微尺度迁徙如何在四个研究地点随时间和沿生态扰动梯度变化；(2)研究更广泛地区的历史和当代环境变化如何解释物种的大规模迁徙和扩散。研究人员使用植物学调查、监测每月的食物供应情况以及使用无人机评估三维森林结构，来量化干扰梯度上的细微尺度环境差异。调查人员使用GPS项圈跟踪狐猴在每个地点的运动；这些信息使调查人员能够确定影响狐猴栖息地使用的森林结构(例如，树冠覆盖率和连通性)的各个方面。大尺度的土地覆盖、土地变化和森林结构是通过植物学调查和卫星图像分类来量化的。研究人员使用种群遗传学评估来量化狐猴在整个地区的扩散模式，然后使用景观遗传技术来确定哪些环境变量驱动了这种物种的扩散模式。总体而言，该项目阐明了环境变化和栖息地变化如何影响并继续影响细微和大规模的狐猴运动和栖息地的使用。因此，来自该项目的见解为在多个层面上评估灵长类动物进化的环境驱动因素提供了基础信息。该奖项反映了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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Movement is a fundamental aspect of primate life, as it is key to survival, reproduction, adaptation, and evolution. At fine scales, movement affects individual survival and reproduction through its role in foraging behavior, predator avoidance, and mate acquisition, while larger scale movement can influence local adaptations and speciation via its role in dispersal, population connectivity, and gene flow. This doctoral dissertation project investigates how fine and large-scale movement decisions in primates reflect spatial and temporal variability in their environment. The research provides important insight regarding human land use and its effects on primate movement, providing local reforestation practitioners key information to help direct their conservation efforts. Moreover, the project strengthens research infrastructure and contributes to the education and training of students, including individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM, and the general public. To evaluate environmental impacts on ruffed lemur multiscale movement, this project has two main objectives: (1) to assess how fine-scale movement varies through time and along an ecological disturbance gradient at four research sites; and (2) to examine how historic and contemporary environmental variation in the broader region explains large-scale movement and dispersal in the species. The investigators quantify fine-scale environmental differences across the disturbance gradient by using botanical surveys, monitoring monthly food availability, and assessing three- dimensional forest structure with drones. Investigators track lemur movement at each site with GPS collars; this information lets investigators identify aspects of forest structure (e.g., tree canopy cover and connectivity) that influence lemur habitat use. Large-scale landcover, land change, and forest structure is quantified with botanical surveys and classification of satellite images. The investigators use population genetic assessments to quantify lemur dispersal patterns throughout the region, followed by landscape genetic techniques to identify which environmental variables drive dispersal patterns in this species. Overall, this project clarifies how environmental variation and habitat change have influenced and continue to influence fine- and large-scale lemur movement and habitat use. Therefore, the insights derived from this project provide foundational information by which to evaluate environmental drivers of primate evolution at multiple levels.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.