The integrative socioecology of large ateline species

这项研究计划的目标是通过研究两个密切相关的猴子物种，在社会组织方面有很大的不同，帮助我们了解哺乳动物群体规模和社会群体模式变化的原因和后果。 自1999年以来，我一直在对伯利兹东南部猴子河流域的一群黑吼猴进行研究。 虽然我将继续监测这一群体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，即Runaway Creek Nature Reserve（RCNR），在那里发现了吼猴和蜘蛛猴。尽管是近亲，但蜘蛛猴和吼猴在生态和社会组织方面表现出了惊人的差异。 黑吼猴是食叶动物，生活在一贯的小和紧密团结的群体与小的家庭范围。 另一方面，蜘蛛猴是水果专家，生活在经典的裂变-融合社会中，猴子是大型社区的成员，这些社区分散在大型家庭范围内的灵活子群体中。 因此，蜘蛛和吼猴是研究灵长类动物群体大小和凝聚力变化的绝佳对象。 在这项研究计划中，我们将研究生态学、人口学、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。 这项研究同时考虑了在几个不同组织水平上运作的因素，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前进。 此外，该方案在管理实践方面具有应用价值，这些管理实践旨在面对持续的气候不稳定和栖息地破碎化，保护、管理和维持大型哺乳动物种群。

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.