PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

Brown Michelle, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: This three-year project focuses on inter-group dynamics of agressive behavior. Referred to as aggressive inter-group encounters (IGEs), face-to-face confrontations between groups typically involve the participation of one or a few group members, which means that the costs of aggressive competition are borne by only a few participants. Although this pattern is widespread, it remains unclear which social, ecological, and physiological factors cause some individuals to participate in an IGEs, but not others. Previous studies focused on factors like dominance rank, food and mate availability, and the degree of relatedness to group-mates. This research includes assessments of these traditional factors but also includes the contribution of previously unexamined variables - temperament and energetic balance. Both variables are likely to be meaningful predictors of participation in inter-group encounters and will affect the understanding of collective aggression in a wide range of taxa. This research studies four groups of vervet monkeys at the Mawana game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with laboratory analysis conducted at the University of New Mexico, USA, and data analysis and write-up conducted at the University of Zurich. Broader Impacts: The topic of inter-group aggression and insights gained from this project will be of great relevance to behavioral ecologists, anthropologists, and psychologists. Project results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and public media in South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. In addition, the Fellow intends to mentor a minority undergraduate student and hire as an intern based on his or her level of interest in animal behavior at the University of New Mexico. The Fellow will also create and maintain a blog about data collection in South Africa and laboratory analysis at UNM. With collaboration with Peter Rouget Middle School in Brooklyn, NY (most of students are minority, first-generation immigrants students from household of low socio-economic status), the blog will introduce to the students observational behavioral research, field work in the natural environment, primate socioecology, and conservation through the Fellow's personal narrative, photos, videos, and a question-and-answer section.