Dissertation Research: A Comparative Study of Primate Socioecology

论文研究：灵长类社会生态学的比较研究

• 批准号: 9711806
• 负责人: Carel van Schaik
• 金额: $ 0.58万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-12-15 至 1999-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9711806&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Comparative; Study; Primate

Comparative studies document the diversity of lifestyles observed across species. The usual goal of such studies is to understand the causal basis for this diversity. In the research proposed here, diversity in primate behavioral, morphological, and life history characteristics will be examined using comparative methods. This study improves on previous research in three ways. First, it makes use of the largest primate socioecological database to better document patterns across species. This database also retains information on intraspecific variation to test patterns below the species level. Second, this study investigates a recently expanded theoretical model which includes the role of conflict between males and females in primate social evolution. Finally, this research applies new methods for dealing with the statistical problems of non-independence associated with evolutionary descent. Results from these methods have already identified new patterns and invalidated some previously proposed associations among traits. Thus, this research has important implications for the empirical basis of our understanding of primate social evolution. Comparative studies have played an important role in explaining evolutionary patterns, and the present work is expected to have implications for future research and education in primatology.

比较研究记录了不同物种观察到的生活方式的多样性。 此类研究的通常目标是了解这种多样性的因果基础。 在此提出的研究中，将使用比较方法来检查灵长类动物行为、形态和生活史特征的多样性。 这项研究在三个方面改进了之前的研究。 首先，它利用最大的灵长类社会生态数据库来更好地记录跨物种的模式。 该数据库还保留有关种内变异的信息，以测试物种水平以下的模式。 其次，这项研究调查了最近扩展的理论模型，其中包括雄性和雌性之间的冲突在灵长类动物社会进化中的作用。 最后，本研究应用新方法来处理与进化下降相关的非独立统计问题。 这些方法的结果已经确定了新的模式，并推翻了之前提出的一些特征之间的关联。 因此，这项研究对于我们理解灵长类社会进化的实证基础具有重要意义。 比较研究在解释进化模式方面发挥了重要作用，目前的工作预计将对灵长类动物学的未来研究和教育产生影响。