How we came to our senses: dietary ecology and primate sensory evolution

我们如何获得感官：饮食生态学和灵长类动物感官进化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-03782
• 负责人: Melin, Amanda
• 金额: $ 5.54万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743612
• 关键词: How; came; our; senses; dietary

My long-term research aim is to understand how primates use their senses to find and select foods, and how diet and habitat have shaped vision, olfaction, taste, touch and hearing over the course of primate evolution. All major hypotheses concerning primate origins and adaptive radiation hinge on the relationships among sensory systems, diet and activity pattern. To propel forward our understanding of primate foraging ecology, my research program over the next 5 years will integrate fieldwork with state-of-the-art methods in genomics and recent technology for measuring food properties on-site in primate habitats.For the past 12 years I have studied the genetic basis of sensation in primates, their close relatives, and other mammals with diets and habitats similar to primates. Since 2011, I have co-directed longitudinal research on capuchin monkeys in Sector Santa Rosa, Costa Rica. My past research has revealed that colour vision variation impacts the feeding efficiency of monkeys for different foods. My collaborators and I have also shown that the genetic polymorphism underlying this colour vision variation is maintained through balancing selection. I now propose to advance this line of research by investigating whether colour vision variation leads to dietary niche divergence, thus lowering intragroup feeding competition. In addition, I will begin new investigations of the genomic basis of the senses of smell and taste in primates and their relatives, and how primates integrate vision with other senses to assess food edibility. In addition, using newly available technologies, I will measure the odours, colours, and mechanical properties of dietary foods. There is a growing recognition that non-visual senses are important to the foraging ecology of primates, including humans, yet little is known about the molecular evolution of these senses and how they are integrated during real-world tasks. By combining observations of wild monkeys for which I have detailed data on lifetime reproductive success, with comparative genomics, and portable equipment for measuring food properties, my research program is uniquely positioned to make major advancements in the field of mammalian sensory ecology. For decades, biological anthropologists have questioned whether primates “sacrificed” their sense of smell for better vision, what the earliest primates ate, when our ancestors shifted from a nocturnal to a diurnal niche, and the repercussions of this adaptive shift. By forging new transdisciplinary pathways, examining ecologically and phylogenetically relevant species, and conducting fieldwork at the longest-running primate field site in the neotropics, trainees and I will shed new light on these long-standing questions. This research will advance the fields of behavioural and molecular ecology in Canada by linking genotypes with phenotypes, foraging success, and fitness of wild animals.

我的长期研究目的是了解灵长类动物如何利用他们的感官来找到和选择食物，以及在灵长类动物进化的过程中，饮食和栖息地如何塑造视力，嗅觉，味觉，触摸和听力。关于灵长类动物起源和适应性辐射有关感觉系统，饮食和活动模式之间关系的所有主要假设。为了推动我们对灵长类动物觅食生态学的理解，在接下来的5年中，我的研究计划将与基因组学的最新方法和最新技术相结合，用于测量主要栖息地的现场食品特性。在过去的12年中，我研究了主要的遗传基础，其近亲，其他乳和类似于初级的妈妈的遗传基础。自2011年以来，我在哥斯达黎加圣罗莎（Santa Rosa）的卷尾猴猴子进行了纵向研究。我过去的研究表明，色觉的变化会影响猴子对不同食物的喂养效率。我和我的合作者还表明，通过平衡选择来维持这种色觉变化的遗传多态性。我现在建议通过研究彩色视觉变化是否导致饮食利基差异，从而降低群体内喂养竞争来推进这一研究。此外，我将开始对气味和味道感的基因组基础进行新的研究。在小学及其亲戚中，以及私人如何将视力与其他感官融合以评估食品可食用性。此外，使用新的技术，我将测量饮食食品的气味，颜色和机械性能。人们越来越认识到，非视觉感觉对于包括人类在内的素质生态学至关重要，但对于这些感觉的分子演变以及它们在现实世界任务中的整合方式却一无所知。通过结合对野生猴子的观察结果，我拥有有关生殖成功，比较基因组学和用于测量食品特性的便携式设备的详细数据，我的研究计划是在哺乳动物感觉生态学领域的主要进步。几十年来，生物人类学家一直质疑主要的嗅觉是否为更好的视力“牺牲”，当我们的祖先从夜间转变为昼夜的利基市场以及这种适应性转变的后果。通过锻造新的跨学科途径，在生态和系统发育相关的物种上检查并在新型新型技术，受训者和受训者的最长运行的原发地现场进行现场工作，我将为这些长期存在的问题提供新的启示。这项研究将通过将基因型与表型，觅食成功以及野生动物的适应性联系起来，通过将基因型与表型联系起来来推动加拿大行为和分子生态学领域。