Award Abstract # 2127253
The effects of food competition on energetics and population dynamics

NSF Org: BCS
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA
Initial Amendment Date: August 16, 2021
Latest Amendment Date: August 16, 2021
Award Number: 2127253
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Jessi L Smith
jlsmith@nsf.gov
 (703)292-2911
BCS
 Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
SBE
 Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Start Date: October 1, 2021
End Date: September 30, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $268,734.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $268,734.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2021 = $268,734.00
History of Investigator:
  • Michelle Brown (Principal Investigator)
    brow7100@umn.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of California-Santa Barbara
3227 CHEADLE HALL
SANTA BARBARA
CA  US  93106-0001
(805)893-4188
Sponsor Congressional District: 24
Primary Place of Performance: University of California-Santa Barbara
Univ of California-Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara
CA  US  93106-2050
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
24
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): G9QBQDH39DF4
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Biological Anthropology,
Build and Broaden
Primary Program Source: 01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 9178, 1392, 9179, 102Z
Program Element Code(s): 139200, 146Y00
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.075

ABSTRACT

Food is necessary to survive and reproduce. In food-limited environments, competition among individuals leads to energy shortfalls, not just via lack of food, but also due to stress associated with feeding competition. Whereas previous primate research has focused on the effects of food competition among individuals, this research asks whether competition between groups exerts similar effects on indicators of physiological well-being. The project uses a socio-ecological framework to pinpoint what features of local environments make some groups more versus less vulnerable to the effects of food competition. The project involves extensive training and mentoring of students from groups under-represented in biological anthropology through lab work, data analysis, and dissemination of results in conference presentations and journal articles. It also involves the development of instructional videos on laboratory methods that will be used to assist students in lab classes.

To understand the effects of within- versus between-group food competition, this project focuses on the behavior and energetics of two primate populations whose group sizes are inversely correlated. The research (1) tracks the day-to-day energetic conditions of individuals using metabolic hormones, (2) disentangles the energetic effects of competition among individuals, groups, and species, and (3) evaluates the costs of competition on short-term reproductive status, measured through ovarian hormones. This project can serve as a model for future studies of community-wide feeding competition ? particularly among long-lived, dietarily flexible species ? and initiate consideration of how between-group and between-species dynamics affect competitive regimes within species.

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.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Brown, Michelle and Steinitz, Ronnie and Emery Thompson, Melissa "Wins and losses in intergroup conflicts reflect energy balance in red-tailed monkeys" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , v.377 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0152 Citation Details
Brown, Michelle and Gaffney, Michael R "Range utilization slopes as a measure of central tendency and intergroup overlap in primates" Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , v.77 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03351-5 Citation Details
Frogge, Hannah and Jones, Revee A. and Angedakin, Samuel and Busobozi, Richard and Kabagambe, Prime and Angwela, Felix O. and Thompson González, Nicole and Brown, Michelle "Constraints on population growth of blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) in Kibale National Park, Uganda" Behaviour , v.159 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-bja10160 Citation Details

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