Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: An Experimental Analysis of Alarm Calling Behavior in Wild Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

博士论文改进：野生卷尾猴（Cebus apella）报警行为的实验分析

• 批准号: 0550971
• 负责人: Charles Janson
• 金额: $ 1.11万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-03-15 至 2007-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0550971&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Experimental; Analysis; Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Experimental; Analysis

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Charles Janson will conduct one year of fieldwork to investigate the evolution of alarm calling behavior in tufted capuchin monkeys in Iguazu National Park in northeastern Argentina. Alarm calls, vocalizations given by prey species when a predator is detected, are found in many group-living animals. These calls have long been of interest to evolutionary biologists because their existence seems to contradict evolutionary theory; an individual who produces a vocalization while in the presence of a predator is more likely to be detected by the predator than is a silent individual. Several hypotheses, falling into three main categories, have been put forth to explain how alarm calls can be maintained in a population. First, an alarm may benefit the caller directly (e.g., if alarms deter the predator from attacking the caller). Second, an alarm may benefit relatives of the caller by alerting them to the presence of a predator. Finally, individuals may be able to use the calls in the absence of predators to manipulate the behavior of other group members (e.g., to usurp food resources). Although hypotheses falling into these categories have been tested in a number of birds and mammals, studies of alarm calls among primates are scant. The aim of this study is to be the first to extensively test multiple hypotheses for the evolution of alarm calling among wild primates and to examine whether or not alarm calls are used to usurp resources from other group members. In order to examine theses aspects of alarm calling behavior, three types of experiments will be conducted. First, models of predators of capuchin monkeys (including ocelots, hawk-eagles, and snakes) will be used to determine the reaction of the monkeys upon detecting predators. Second, recordings of alarm calls will be played back to live hawk-eagles in an avian rehabilitation center in order to determine if the production of alarm calls deters the predator from attacking a caller. Third, platforms suspended from tree branches and filled with bananas will be used to determine if the amount and distribution of food affects the propensity of capuchin monkeys to produce alarm calls in the absence of a predator. The intellectual merit of this study will be a better understanding of the factors that allowed for the evolution and maintenance of alarm calls among primates. The data which will result from this project are important because of both the widespread interest in alarm calling among evolutionary biologists and the notable absence of such data for primate species. The broader impacts of the study are that it will increase what is known about a widely noted but under-investigated aspect of primate behavior. In addition, this project will contribute to the training of a graduate student (the co-PI) in primate behavior as well as to the training of undergraduate and post-graduate students from the host country. Argentine field assistants will be given the opportunity to conduct research with the study animals for their undergraduate theses and the co-PI will have the opportunity to serve as the thesis advisor or co-advisor for these projects. Finally, the experiments conducted at the avian rehabilitation center will provide much needed funding for conservation efforts in what is the only remaining large continuous fragment of the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest.

在国家科学基金会的资助下，查尔斯·詹森（Charles Janson）博士将进行一年的实地调查，以调查阿根廷东北部伊瓜苏国家公园的簇绒卷尾猴猴子的警报行为的演变。在许多集体生活动物中发现了捕食者时，猎物物种发出的声音，猎物物种发出的发声。这些呼吁长期以来一直引起进化生物学家的关注，因为它们的存在似乎与进化论相矛盾。在捕食者面前产生发​​声的人比沉默的人更可能被捕食者检测到。已经提出了一些分为三个主要类别的假设，以解释如何在人群中维持警报电话。首先，警报可能会直接使呼叫者受益（例如，如果警报阻止捕食者攻击呼叫者）。其次，警报可能会通过提醒捕食者的存在来使呼叫者的亲属受益。最后，在没有掠食者的情况下，个人可以使用呼叫来操纵其他小组成员的行为（例如，篡夺食品资源）。尽管属于这些类别的假设已经在许多鸟类和哺乳动物中进行了测试，但灵长类动物之间对警报呼叫的研究很少。这项研究的目的是成为第一个对野生灵长类动物之间警报呼叫演变的多种假设进行广泛检验的人，并检查是否使用警报调用来篡夺其他小组成员的资源。为了检查警报通话行为的方面，将进行三种类型的实验。首先，卷尾猴捕食者（包括Ocelot，Hawk-eagles和Snakes）的模型将用于确定猴子在检测捕食者时的反应。其次，警报电话的录音将播放回鸟类康复中心的现场鹰派现场鹰，以确定警报呼叫的产生是否阻止捕食者攻击呼叫者。第三，将使用从树枝上悬挂并充满香蕉的平台来确定食物的数量和分布是否会影响卷尾猴在没有捕食者的情况下产生警报呼叫的倾向。这项研究的智力优点将更好地理解允许灵长类动物之间警报调用的进化和维护的因素。该项目将产生的数据很重要，因为对进化生物学家之间的警报呼叫以及灵长类动物的这些数据的显着兴趣既有广泛的兴趣。该研究的更广泛的影响是，它将增加有关灵长类动物行为的广泛注意到的知识的知识。此外，该项目将有助于培训灵长类动物行为的研究生（Co-Pi），以及对来自东道国的本科和研究生的培训。阿根廷现场助理将有机会与研究动物进行研究，以便为其本科论文进行研究，而Co-Pi将有机会担任这些项目的论文顾问或共同顾问。最后，在鸟类康复中心进行的实验将为保护工作提供急需的资金，这是唯一剩下的大型帕拉纳大西洋森林的大型连续碎片。