Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human disturbance, habituation, and stress responsiveness in wild, endangered primates

博士论文研究：野生濒危灵长类动物的人类干扰、习惯和应激反应

• 批准号: 1452644
• 负责人: Carol Berman
• 金额: $ 2.52万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Buffalo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-02-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1452644&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Human; disturbance

As human mobility and populations expand, primates are increasingly exposed to unavoidable, potentially stressful human influences. There is an assumption that apparent tolerance of human presence by primates indicates habituation (primates learn that human presence is not associated with negative consequences), and consequently, primates no longer experience negative effects of stress. These assumptions may be inaccurate or premature; indeed there is evidence that unavoidable, chronic exposure of primates to tourism can be stressful, indicated by behavioral and physiological responses, even in sites active for decades. This dissertation aims to examine these assumptions in Tangkoko Nature Reserve, Sulawesi, Indonesia, by investigating behavioral and physiological responses of wild macaques to the presence of tourists and crop-guarding. It will be the first study to distinguish between chronic and acute stress in wild macaques, making a unique contribution to our understanding of the nature of stress responses in primates and suggesting improved conservation methods for an endangered primate species. The project will also provide training for a female STEM graduate student and both US and Indonesian undergraduate research assistants, and will include local community education and outreach efforts. In this two-year study, the investigators will collect salivary and fecal cortisol data and behavioral data for 12 adult macaques in each of three groups, where groups differ in levels of human interaction. In normal (acute) responses to stress, stress hormones rise, but return to baseline levels within a few hours. However, chronic stress responses (in which stress hormones remain high) can be detrimental to an individual's health and reproductive potential. Thus, the data collected here will shed light on whether primate groups exposed to tourism for decades fully habituate or whether their apparent tolerance masks abnormal stress responses likely to be detrimental to fitness. Due to their close phylogenetic relatedness, this can also enhance our understanding of human stress response. In addition to training and outreach broader impacts, the project will also develop non-invasive field measures of cortisol that can be used by a variety of primate and wildlife researchers.

随着人类的流动性和人口的扩大，灵长类动物越来越受到不可避免的，潜在的压力人类影响。有一个假设，灵长类动物对人类存在的明显容忍表明习惯（灵长类动物知道人类的存在与负面后果无关），因此，灵长类动物不再经历压力的负面影响。这些假设可能不准确或过早；确实有证据表明，不可避免的，长期暴露灵长类动物会给旅游业带来压力，这是由行为和生理反应所表明的，即使在活跃的地点数十年也是如此。该论文旨在通过研究野生猕猴对游客和保护作物保护的存在的行为和生理反应，以研究印度尼西亚苏拉威西州萨拉维西的Tangkoko自然保护区的这些假设。这将是第一个区分野生猕猴中慢性应激和急性应激的研究，这对我们对灵长类动物中压力反应的性质的理解做出了独特的贡献，并提出了改善濒临灭绝的灵长类动物物种的保护方法。该项目还将为女性STEM研究生以及美国和印尼本科研究助理提供培训，并将包括当地的社区教育和外展工作。 在这项为期两年的研究中，研究人员将在三组中的每一组中为12个成人猕猴收集唾液和粪便皮质醇数据和行为数据，其中人类相互作用水平有所不同。在正常（急性）对压力的反应中，压力激素会增加，但在几个小时内恢复到基线水平。但是，慢性应激反应（其中应激激素仍然很高）可能会损害个人的健康和生殖潜力。因此，这里收集的数据将阐明数十年来暴露于旅游业的灵长类动物群体是否完全习惯了，或者它们的明显耐受性掩盖了异常的压力反应可能对适应性有害。由于它们紧密的系统发育相关性，这也可以增强我们对人类压力反应的理解。除了培训和外展更广泛的影响外，该项目还将开发出可替代皮质醇的非侵入性现场测量，这些测量可供各种灵长类动物和野生动植物研究人员使用。