Doctoral Dissertation Research: The impact of environment on movement and habitat usage in a nocturnal primate

Unsuitable environmental conditions are one of the main drivers for evolution as species must adapt, move, or perish. Smaller mammals have avoided the impact of unsuitable environments by becoming nocturnal and moving to refuges. Current unprecedented environmental variations raise the question of how various mammals, including primates, can find suitable habitats.

This doctoral dissertation project focuses on understanding how movement and activity are influenced by nocturnal and seasonal changes in environment in a non-human primate, informing broader questions about primate evolution and adaptation. This project provides capacity building, training, and mentorship for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as informing conservation efforts for nocturnal mammals.

This project uses an integration of data from direct observations, radio-tracking collars, and temperature and humidity loggers to record environmental and movement information for a small, nocturnal, non-human primate. There are two main objectives: (1) to assess how environmental variables (temperature and humidity) influence this primate’s movement and activity patterns; and (2) to identify areas of the forest which provide a cooler microenvironment and examine if this non-human primate utilizes these areas.

This research evaluates the relationship between movement and environment, how sampling effort impacts the results, and builds upon previous home range and habitat suitability models by incorporating a 3D component to represent the vertical movement employed by arboreal primates. This research provides an opportunity to evaluate how the earliest primate ancestors may have mitigated environmental extremes using this non-human primate as a proxy, and how a nocturnal species may behaviorally adapt to environmental change.

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.