Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
2536 The University of Texas at San Antonio (144424)
Principal Investigator: Wikberg, Eva
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 19,978
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): No
Start and End Dates: 1/15/23 - 5/15/25
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: ARTS
Department, Center, School, or Institute: Colfa Anthropology
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Early Life Adversity, the Gut Microbiome, and Development in Colobus vellerosus
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
The Leakey Foundation
CFDA: 0
Program Title: none
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1 and 1.3.2; This research project will examine potential relationships between infanticide risk as a source of early life adversity, gut microbiome composition, and the development of coat color using 15 years of data from Colobus vellerosus at Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. The goals of this project are to investigate: 1) whether infanticide risk predicts gut microbiome composition (69 infants); 2) whether infanticide risk experienced as an infant predicts the gut microbiome at later life history stages (71 juveniles, sub-adults, and adults); and 3) the association between gut microbiome composition and the speed of transition from natal to adult coat color (i.e., a physical marker of development in colobines that reduces infanticide risk), even when taking infanticide risk into account (57 infants). We will use weekly demographic data to assess infanticide risk and speed of coat color transition. This project involves the full participation of women at a public, Hispanic-serving institution (UTSA) in scientific research that increases their skills in laboratory assays, bioinformatics, and data analysis. At least one undergraduate and one graduate student will be trained in laboratory procedures as part of this project. The findings will be presented at academic conferences and in peer-reviewed academic journals. The research site contains one of the last large populations of Colobus vellerosus, a critically endangered species, and we will apply our findings to support the management plan for this population, in partnership with the Boabeng-Fiema management committee. We will also create a poster of the findings for the site's tourist office to engage visitors with this research.
Discussion: No discussion notes