Doctoral Dissertation Research: Multi-scale movement behavior in primates

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

Movement is a fundamental aspect of primate life, as it is key to survival, reproduction, adaptation, and evolution. At fine scales, movement affects individual survival and reproduction through its role in foraging behavior, predator avoidance, and mate acquisition, while larger scale movement can influence local adaptations and speciation via its role in dispersal, population connectivity, and gene flow.

This doctoral dissertation project investigates how fine and large-scale movement decisions in primates reflect spatial and temporal variability in their environment. The research provides important insight regarding human land use and its effects on primate movement, providing local reforestation practitioners key information to help direct their conservation efforts.

Moreover, the project strengthens research infrastructure and contributes to the education and training of students, including individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM, and the general public.

To evaluate environmental impacts on ruffed lemur multiscale movement, this project has two main objectives: (1) to assess how fine-scale movement varies through time and along an ecological disturbance gradient at four research sites; and (2) to examine how historic and contemporary environmental variation in the broader region explains large-scale movement and dispersal in the species. The investigators quantify fine-scale environmental differences across the disturbance gradient by using botanical surveys, monitoring monthly food availability, and assessing three- dimensional forest structure with drones.

Investigators track lemur movement at each site with GPS collars; this information lets investigators identify aspects of forest structure (e.g., tree canopy cover and connectivity) that influence lemur habitat use. Large-scale landcover, land change, and forest structure is quantified with botanical surveys and classification of satellite images. The investigators use population genetic assessments to quantify lemur dispersal patterns throughout the region, followed by landscape genetic techniques to identify which environmental variables drive dispersal patterns in this species.

Overall, this project clarifies how environmental variation and habitat change have influenced and continue to influence fine- and large-scale lemur movement and habitat use. Therefore, the insights derived from this project provide foundational information by which to evaluate environmental drivers of primate evolution at multiple levels.

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.