The integrative socioecology of large ateline species

本研究计划的目的是通过对两种社会组织差异巨大的亲缘关系密切的猴子物种的研究，帮助我们理解哺乳动物群体大小和社会群体模式变化的原因和后果。自1999年以来，我一直在伯利兹东南部猴河流域对一群黑吼猴进行研究。虽然我将继续监测这一种群并分析过去几年收集的数据，但我的研究重点已经转移到一个新的地点，失控溪自然保护区（RCNR），在那里发现了吼猴和蜘蛛猴。虽然是近亲，但蜘蛛猴和吼猴在生态和社会组织方面有着显著的差异。黑嚎叫是吃叶子的动物，它们一直生活在一个小而紧密结合的群体中，家庭范围很小。另一方面，蜘蛛猴是水果专家，它们生活在经典的裂变融合社会中，在这种社会中，猴子是大社区的成员，在大的家庭范围内分散成灵活的亚群体。因此，蜘蛛和咆哮者是研究灵长类动物群体大小和凝聚力变化的绝佳对象。在这个研究项目中，我们研究生态、人口、生殖策略、疾病风险和大规模气候因素（如该地区飓风的频率）如何影响形成的社会群体的类型。这项研究同时考虑了在几个不同组织层面上运作的因素，将有助于我们朝着哺乳动物社会进化综合理论的最终目标迈进。此外，该方案在面对持续的气候不稳定和生境破碎的情况下，对旨在保护、管理和维持大型哺乳动物种群的管理做法也具有应用价值。

The goal of this research programme is to contribute to our understanding of the causes and consequences of variation in mammalian group size and social grouping patterns through the study of two closely related monkey species that differ dramatically in social organization. Since 1999 I have conducted research on a population of black howler monkeys in the Monkey River watershed of south-eastern Belize. While I will continue to monitor that population and analyze data that have been collected over the past several years my research focus has shifted to a new site, Runaway Creek Nature Reserve (RCNR) at which both howler and spider monkeys are found. Though close relatives, spider and howler monkeys show striking contrasts in ecology and social organization. Black howlers are leaf eaters that live in consistently small and tightly cohesive groups with small home ranges. Spider monkeys, on the other hand, are fruit specialists that live in classic fission-fusion societies in which the monkeys are members of large communities that are dispersed into flexible subgroups across large home ranges. Spiders and howlers are thus excellent subjects for the study of variation in primate group size and cohesion. In this research programme we look at how ecology, demography, reproductive strategies, disease risk, and large scale climatic factors (such as frequency of hurricanes in the area) influence the kind of social groups that form. This study, where factors operating at several different levels of organization are considered simultaneously, will help us to progress toward the ultimate goal of a comprehensive theory of mammalian social evolution. As well, this programme has applied value with respect to management practices aimed at protecting, managing and sustaining large mammal populations in the face of on-going climatic instability and habitat fragmentation.