金丝猴重层社会中雌性在食物竞争中的合作策略研究

The females of some animal species live in small, close-knit groups that compete for limited resources, such as food, with other intra-specific groups. Females may thus cooperate with other members of their group when also competing with other groups. Understanding why females play both roles requires identifying factors that: i) increase the likelihood of individuals forming intra-group alliances, and ii) results in inter-group competition. Within groups, individuals are more likely to form alliances with close kin, and between groups competitive behaviour for food will be affected by variation in the absolute value of the food resource and any additional costs such as the likelihood of predation. However, theoretical predictions of competition/cooperation are often based on an assumption of symmetric interactions between individuals in a single population. In more complex hierarchical societies, such as in humans and some non-human primates, interactions between individuals occur at multiple levels. We predict that relatedness, social hierarchy and social structure will determine within-group cooperation. Variation in the sizes, quality of food patches, and variation in their degree of exposure to potential predators, will likely affect variation in any collective within-group cooperation, that will in-turn affect the likelihood of inter-group competition. We will test these predictions in a well-known wild primate species, the golden snub-nosed monkey, which has complex multi-level social behaviour. We will conduct food provisioning experiments that will include variation in absolute food quality and the degree of exposure to potential predators, to monkeys of known genetic pedigree and within- and between-group social hierarchies. This work will reveal new insight into the dynamics of cooperation and competition in a complex multi-level primate society, provide a greater understanding of social evolution, and provide additional information to aid primate population management and conservation.

灵长类雌性为了竞争食物资源的觅食合作是雌性聚群的主要动力。研究她们如何通过合作获得食物资源的机制，不仅是解决物种社群形成机制的重要内容，也是研究合作行为本身进化的关键问题。亲缘关系和等级关系是促进合作形成的两个重要因素，但是二者如何相互作用对群内合作形成的机制并不清楚。通过完善合作机制研究中不对称性和社会结构分层的假设条件，我们推测雌性合作策略可能由食物压力、社会关系和社群结构三个因素共同决定。因此，我们假设食物压力变化将导致雌性的合作策略在不同社会关系的群体内和群体间发生改变，从而使得资源重新分配。本课题拟在此基础上，分析在不同食物压力条件下合作关系的即时变化规律和长期效应，研究雌性个体和群体在食物竞争中的合作行为策略及其变化规律，探索食物资源在重层社会灵长类种群内配置的机制，进而回答雌性合作的形成与进化这一重要理论问题，同时也为该珍稀物种的保护和饲养管理提供指导。

雌性灵长类动物为竞争食物资源的觅食合作是雌性聚群的主要动力。研究她们如何通过合作获得食物资源的机制，不仅是解决物种社群形成机制的重要内容，也是研究合作行为本身进化的关键问题。通过完善合作机制研究中不对称性和社会结构分层的假设条件，我们推测雌性合作策略可能由食物压力、社会关系和社群结构三个因素共同决定。要解决这一系列的问题，首先要对个体进行识别。本项目在传统个体识别技术基础上，创新了新的动物个体识别技术。本研究通过对不同物种的13万份个体影像数据的系统采集，研发了动物个体水平精准识别的AI系统，验证了跨物种的自动个体识别的理论假设，实现昼夜对动物目标的连续精准识别和跟踪，突破了野生动物行为生态学研究和保护的技术瓶颈。首次将红外热成像无人机技术用于秦岭川金丝猴的野外调查工作中，突破了传统野生动物监测方法上“走不到、看不清”技术难题。突破个体识别瓶颈后，本研究首次在国内运用定量行为记录和定量食物养分分析的方法，结合最新的几何结构模型理论，通过分析川金丝猴营养需求特征和个体差异，对比不同生长期个体和不同地理种群川金丝猴的营养需求特点，揭示了金丝猴的食物选择策略和食性适应机制，从而阐明了秦岭金丝猴生活生存于在高寒高海拔山区根本原因是个体能在冬季通过摄入大量碳水化合物来实现能量平衡的适应策略。在摸清金丝猴取食策略和营养平衡机制后，我们又探究了等级和亲缘关系对雌性个体间友好行为的影响。研究表明，高等级雄性通过在食物短缺的冬季取食较多高质量的食物以获得收益，这有利于增加后代的数量，使高等级单元内所有成员在冬季的食物竞争中获得优势。该研究首次通过可控实验手段，揭示了重层社会雌雄在合作竞争中的基本行为策略。对繁殖群内不同等级单元雄性、成年雌性个体进行全天连续观察，记录其取食与其他行为的时间分配，并探索了亲缘关系对其行为的影响。结果表明，亲缘关系可以促进个体间的友好行为，不同等级个体会采取不同的取食和行为策略来提高自身的适合度。