Group Dynamics, Reproductive Success and Hibitat Utilization in Chimpanzees and Baboons

9319909 Anne Pusey In the past 30 years, Jane Goodall revolutionized our understanding of chimpanzee behavior, and in the process gave us an extraordinary perspective on ourselves and our behavioral origins. Chimpanzees are fascinating in their own right. They are one of the few mammalian species to show female dispersal and male-male cooperation, and this continuing study will provide new insights into the causes and consequences of this unusual social organization. Though less prominent than the chimp study, the Gombe baboon study is the longest and most extensive field study of any African monkey. This current research effort, in coordination with Goodall and Tanzanian collaborators, will involve three interconnecting projects. First, long-term demographic and behavioral data on chimpanzees and olive baboons will be analyzed and new data will be collected. This will include Goodall's records from the past three decades. The emphasis will be an examination of the costs and benefits of female dispersion and male sociality. In contrast, olive baboons show the social organization typical of old world monkeys, with home ranges maintained largely by the females and males moving between troops. This research effort will investigate group-level factors influencing female reproductive success, and the causes of individual variability in male reproductive success, social relationships and paternal care. The large sample sizes allow sophisticated statistical analysis of demography and social behavior. The second project involves a highly detailed survey of the diversity and distribution of vegetation in the entire park -- an area of unusual plant diversity. The vegetation studies will clarify the ecological basis of chimpanzee social organization, the importance of inter-troop competition in baboons, and will also contribute to the inventory of biodiversity in Tanzania. The third project will use DNA extracted from feces of both species to assess paternity, measure genetic relatedness and levels of inbreeding. By perfecting the extraction of nuclear DNA from feces and developing baboon-specific primers, the team will facilitate paternity studies in other primate field studies.