Physiological and Behavioral Responses to a Temperate Primate Niche Using a Strepsirrhine Model

使用链霉素模型对温带灵长类动物生态位的生理和行为反应

• 批准号: 1638833
• 负责人: Michelle Sauther
• 金额: $ 24.54万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-03-01 至 2020-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1638833&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Physiological; Behavioral; Responses; Temperate; Primate; Physiological; Behavioral; Responses; Temperate; Primate

Nearly all primates are tropical mammals, with only a handful of species living in temperate environments. How do primates adapt to non-tropical environments? This study uses state-of-the-art, non-invasive techniques to expand our understanding of wild primate physiology, metabolism and behavioral adaptations to environmental stressors not normally encountered within tropical habitats. Results will inform our understanding of primate physiology, body size variation, and evolutionary history in more seasonal habitats. This project offers a variety of key student research experiences that include undergraduate research opportunities (including for students from underrepresented groups), student training in field and analytic methods, and mentoring students in the production of both MSc and PhD projects. The project will foster international research collaborations and capacity building at the field location. In addition, the project will provide important knowledge facilitating effective husbandry and management of zoo primates, and will contribute DNA data to the International Barcode of Life Program to track primate poaching and illegal bushmeat trade. This project is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.A broadly comparative approach will be taken to understand how two nocturnal primate species of dramatically different body sizes react to the stressful ecology of temperate habitats. Otolemur crassicaudatus (3.3 lbs) and Galago moholi (5.15oz) will be studied at the Lajuma Research Centre, located high in the Soutpansberg Mountains and characterized by a temperate climate with cold humid winters and warm-to-hot humid summers. Methodology to assess physiological responses include isotopic ecology from hair samples (which will help characterize each species' diet across months), metabolomics (which provides relative nutrition at the molecular level), nutritional ecology and stress hormones from fecal samples, and assessment of health and dental ecology in relation to habitat stressors. Behavioral comparisons will provide real-time assessment of each species' thermoregulation by using portable, professional-grade thermal imaging devices and infrared cameras, allowing remote recording of the primate's body temperature throughout nightly follows. Such comparative data are relevant for evaluating the limitations of primate adaptation, for understanding how ancestral primates mediated past environmental change, and for clarifying the mechanisms and physiological patterns underlying primate resilience in changing environmental conditions.

几乎所有灵长类动物都是热带哺乳动物，只有几种在温带环境中生活的物种。灵长类动物如何适应非热带环境？这项研究使用最先进的非侵入性技术来扩展我们对野生灵长类动物生理学，代谢和行为适应对环境压力源通常在热带栖息地通常不会遇到的环境压力的理解。结果将为我们对更多季节栖息地中灵长类动物生理学，体型变异和进化史的理解提供信息。该项目提供了各种重要的学生研究经验，其中包括本科研究机会（包括来自代表性不足的小组的学生），领域和分析方法的学生培训，并指导学生在MSC和PHD项目的生产中。该项目将在现场培养国际研究合作和能力建设。此外，该项目将提供重要的知识，以促进动物园灵长类动物灵长类动物的有效饲养和管理，并将为国际生命计划计划提供DNA数据，以跟踪灵长类动物的偷猎和非法的灌木丛贸易。该项目由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。将采取广泛的比较方法来了解两个夜间的灵长类动物如何对温带栖息地的压力性生态作出反应。将在Soutpansberg山脉高中的Lajuma研究中心研究Otolemur crassicaudatus（3.3磅）和Galago Moholi（5.15oz）（5.15oz），其特征是温和的气候，寒冷的潮湿冬季和温暖的潮湿夏天。评估生理反应的方法论包括头发样本中的同位素生态学（这将有助于在几个月内表征每个物种的饮食），代谢组学（在分子水平上提供相对营养），营养生态学和粪便样本的胁迫激素，以及与生物胁迫相关的健康和牙科生态学评估。行为比较将通过使用便携式的，专业级的热成像设备和红外摄像机对每个物种的热调节进行实时评估，从而允许在夜间夜间记录灵长类动物的体温。这种比较数据与评估灵长类动物适应的局限性有关，以理解祖先灵长类动物如何介导了过去的环境变化，并阐明了在不断变化的环境条件下灵长类动物韧性的机制和生理模式。