Milton Katharine, Nolin David A, Ellis Kelsey, Lozier Jeffrey, Sandel Brody, Lacey Eileen A
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA.
Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
Primates. 2016 Apr;57(2):253-65. doi: 10.1007/s10329-016-0523-5. Epub 2016 Mar 2.
Kinship plays an important role in the social behavior of many primate species, including patterns of intra-group affiliation and cooperation. Within social groups, kinship is strongly affected by dispersal patterns, with the degree of relatedness among group-mates expected to decrease as the tendency to disperse increases. In primate species characterized by bisexual dispersal, relatedness among adult group-mates is predicted to be low, with social interactions shaped largely by factors other than kinship. To date, however, few studies have examined the role of kinship in social interactions in bisexually dispersing species. Accordingly, we collected genetic, spatial and behavioral data on all adult members (three males, six females) in a group of free-ranging mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata)--a bisexually dispersing species of atelid primate--from Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. Analyses of microsatellite variation revealed that relatedness was greater among adult males in this group (mean pairwise relatedness = 0.32 for males versus 0.09 for females). Relatedness among individuals, however, was not associated with either spatial proximity or frequency of social interactions. Instead, sex was a better predictor of both of these aspects of social behavior. While relatedness among adults had no discernible effect on the intra-group social interactions documented in this study, we postulate that kinship may facilitate affiliative and cooperative behaviors among male group-mates when interacting competitively with neighboring howler groups over access to food or potential mates.
亲缘关系在许多灵长类物种的社会行为中起着重要作用，包括群体内的归属模式与合作模式。在社会群体中，亲缘关系受到扩散模式的强烈影响，随着扩散倾向的增加，群体成员之间的亲缘程度预计会降低。在以两性扩散为特征的灵长类物种中，成年群体成员之间的亲缘关系预计较低，社会互动很大程度上由亲缘关系以外的因素塑造。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究探讨亲缘关系在两性扩散物种的社会互动中的作用。因此，我们收集了来自巴拿马巴罗科罗拉多岛（BCI）的一群自由放养的长毛吼猴（Alouatta palliata，一种两性扩散的蛛猴科灵长类物种）中所有成年成员（三只雄性、六只雌性）的基因、空间和行为数据。微卫星变异分析表明，该群体中成年雄性之间的亲缘关系更强（雄性平均成对亲缘关系 = 0.32，雌性为0.09）。然而，个体之间的亲缘关系与空间接近度或社会互动频率均无关联。相反，性别是社会行为这两个方面更好的预测指标。虽然成年个体之间的亲缘关系对本研究记录的群体内社会互动没有明显影响，但我们推测，在与邻近吼猴群体竞争获取食物或潜在配偶时，亲缘关系可能会促进雄性群体成员之间的亲和与合作行为。
