Health and fitness consequences of group size variation in Verreauxs sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi)

行为生态学的一个基本假设是，种群大小的种内变异会影响个体的健康、状态和最终的适应性。然而，在不同规模的群体中生活的成本和收益尚未得到全面评估。因此，本研究的总体目的是研究野生灵长类动物种群中群体大小与生态、社会、生理和健康变量之间的相关性。具体来说，这是第一个同时考察群体大小、饲养、寄生虫感染、应激水平和微生物组组成对个体适应性影响的综合研究。因为我们将收集不同大小的邻近群体的行为数据和样本，这些数据将与20多年的人口统计数据相结合，我们将能够评估群体大小变化的适应度后果。因此，本研究将解决社会-健康-健身关系的关键环节，并为协同分析创造潜力。此外，该研究还将为比较研究提供急需的小群体比较数据，并将首次在独立的灵长类动物辐射中对生态约束假说进行验证。

A fundamental assumption in behavioral ecology posits that intraspecific variation in group size impacts individual health, condition, and ultimately fitness. The costs and benefits of living in groups of different sizes have not been comprehensively evaluated yet, however. The overall aim of this study is therefore to examine correlations between group size and ecological, social, physiological and health variables in a wild primate population. Specifically, this is the first comprehensive study to examine group size effects of ranging, feeding, parasite infection, stress levels and microbiome composition on individual fitness simultaneously. Because we will collect behavioral data and samples of neighboring groups of variable size, which will be combined with more than 20 years of demographic data, we will be able to assess the fitness consequences of group size variation. This study will therefore address a key link in the sociality-health-fitness nexus and additionally create potential for synergetic analyses. Moreover, this study will also contribute much needed comparative data across small group sizes for comparative studies, and it will provide the first test of the ecological constraints hypothesis in an independent primate radiation.