Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social responsiveness in female nonhuman primates

博士论文研究：雌性非人类灵长类动物的社会反应

• 批准号: 2141839
• 负责人: Ann Markham
• 金额: $ 2.97万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-15 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141839&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Social; responsiveness

In social species, there is variation in the extent to which individuals within groups use the position or behaviors of those closest to them to inform their own behavior; this is called social responsiveness. While previous research has demonstrated that variation in social responsiveness among individuals in a group influences ways in which the whole group behaves, this research has been through work in laboratories or using computer simulations. In order to better understand this phenomenon and how it relates to the evolution of social behavior, this doctoral dissertation research project examines these relationships in natural settings. The investigators use new tracking technologies and advance the field of biological anthropology by introducing non-invasive, image-based techniques for tracking nonhuman primate movements and interactions in the wild. Through this project the investigators create opportunities for both masters’ and undergraduate thesis projects and develop new educational modules on collective animal behavior targeted toward middle-school students. Collective behavior researchers have proposed that socially responsive individuals follow cues given by neighbors to make inferences about environmental conditions and resource locations, while unresponsive individuals gather information privately through independent investigation of the environment. Theory predicts that the extent of within-group variation in social responsiveness produces group-level traits, such as cohesion and collective decision-making regimes, which in turn have consequences for individual fitness. This project has three specific objectives: (1) identify the contexts in which wild female savannah baboons are socially responsive; (2) examine if variation in social responsiveness affects collective behavior; and (3) test if group composition affects individual fitness according to its expected effects on collective movement. To achieve these objectives, novel data are collected in the field using 3D stereo videography and GPS-accelerometer collars. Long-term demographic and behavioral data collected over five decades of population monitoring are used to contextualize results. Furthermore, by considering the simultaneous “bottom-up” effects of individual variation on collective behavior and the “top-down” effects of collective behavior on individual fitness in a highly social primate, this project offers novel insight into the adaptive value of social responsiveness and its role in patterning group-level phenomena.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在社会物种中，群体中的个体使用最接近他们的人的位置或行为来告知自己的行为的程度有所不同；这称为社会反应。尽管先前的研究表明，个体中社会反应的差异会影响整个小组的行为方式，但这项研究一直是通过实验室工作或使用计算机模拟的。为了更好地理解这种现象及其与社会行为的发展之间的关系，该博士学位论文研究项目在自然环境中研究了这些关系。研究人员使用新的跟踪技术并通过引入非侵入性的，基于图像的技术来跟踪野外非人类的私人运动和互动来推进生物人类学领域。通过这个项目，调查人员为硕士和本科论文项目创造了机会，并开发了针对中学生的集体动物行为的新教育模块。集体行为研究人员提出，社会响应迅速的个人遵循邻居提供的线索，以获取有关环境条件和资源位置的信息，而无响应的人通过独立的环境投资私下收集信息。理论预测，社会反应能力的组内变化程度会产生群体级的特征，例如凝聚力和集体决策制度，这反过来又对个人的适应性产生了影响。该项目具有三个特定的目标：（1）确定野生女性萨凡纳狒狒在社会上反应灵敏的环境； （2）检查社会反应能力的变化是否会影响集体行为； （3）测试群体组成是否会根据其对集体运动的预期影响影响个人适应性。为了实现这些目标，使用3D立体声摄影和GPS-ACCELERMOMETER项圈在现场收集了新的数据。在五十年的人口监测中收集的长期人口统计和行为数据用于将结果与之相关。此外，通过考虑个人变异对集体行为的简单“自下而上”影响以及集体行为对高度社交灵长的“自上而下”的影响，该项目为社会响应的适应性及其在构图群体水平现象中的作用提供了新的见解。 标准。