FOR 2136:  Sociality and Health in Primates

• Subject Area: Biology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 244372499

Strong links between sociality, health and fitness have been identified in humans and animals, but their exact nature and direction as well as the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored. While it has been established that social contacts facilitate the transmission of many parasites, and that unavoidable costs of sociality accrue in the form of increased susceptibility to infectious and non-infectious disease, recent research has indicated that social contacts can also facilitate the transmission of benign microorganisms and that social interactions can buffer individuals from the consequences of social stress by modulating their immune response. The individual projects comprising the building blocks of this Research Unit will address novel and timely questions about the above relationships based on coordinated research on wild primates representing all major primate radiations. By combining primate field studies with molecular analyses, this Research Unit will also generate synergies aimed at (i) assessing correlations between three levels of sociality (social organization, group size, individuals) and the composition of the corresponding microorganism communities (microbiome, phagome, virome, gastrointestinal parasites) (ii) better understanding the social factors modulating individual stress responses and their health consequences, (iii) estimating fitness consequences of sociality-related variation in health and condition. With this research agenda, we aim to overcome the traditional fragmentation between primate behavioral ecology and biomedical research by generating a close network of collaborations within and between projects and institutions, and by training a cohort of PhD students in a new and unique program.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Indonesia, Tanzania, United Kingdom, USA

Projects

• Are measures of sociality linked to Oxytocin and Glucocorticoid profiles and health in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus)? (Applicants Deschner, Tobias ;  Leendertz, Fabian ;  Wittig, Roman )
• Behavioral determinants and consequences of the natural spread of a sexually transmitted disease in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis) (Applicants Knauf, Ph.D., Sascha ;  Zinner, Dietmar )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Kappeler, Peter M. )
• Effects of progressing age on energy balance, sociality and health in wild female Assamese macaques (Macaca assamensis) (Applicant Ostner, Ph.D., Julia )
• Health and fitness consequences of group size variation in Verreauxs sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) (Applicant Kappeler, Peter M. )
• Microbe soups in social groups: Interaction of social organization and parasite and symbiont diversity (Applicants Calvignac-Spencer, Sébastien ;  Daniel, Rolf ;  Roos, Christian )
• Prenatal stress effects on sociality and health in wild Assamese macaques (Applicant Schülke, Ph.D., Oliver )
• Social determinants of physiological stress and health aspects in wild female crested macaques (Macaca nigra) (Applicants Engelhardt, Antje ;  Heistermann, Michael )
• Social relationships: key to gut microbiome composition in wild redfronted lemurs? (Applicants Daniel, Rolf ;  Fichtel, Claudia )
• The effect of group size and composition on the dynamics of group- and individual-level symbiont and pathogen communities in a long-term wild chimpanzee cohort (Applicants Leendertz, Fabian ;  Wittig, Roman )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Peter M. Kappeler