PhD Studentship : Primates as agents of dispersal Gastrointestinal food-transit time and its downstream effects on ecosystem services

Food passage time through animal guts is a critical parameter for constraining an animal’s ability to act as an agent of nutrient, seed, microbe, or pathogen dispersal in its ecosystem. Current methods to estimate food passage do not measure food directly, are impractical for many species, and often require unnatural conditions to administer. This new method directly measures the transit and retention times of plant foodstuffs by tracking isoptically-tagged greens from ingestion to plant biomarker excretion. In this project, you will take advantage of a newly piloted method to compare food transit time across a diverse array of plant eaters, focussed primarily on primates housed at the Twycross Zoo.

This project is intentionally flexible: The research questions this method can address are numerous and varied, depending on your background and interests. We envision a first thesis chapter which builds a comparative database of food transit times across primates of various sizes with different feeding strategies that stem from different phylogenetic lineages, all to develop generalised empirical scaling rules about food transit and retention times within — and potentially beyond — primates. Follow-on work could include international fieldwork on wild primates, capitalising on established collaborations between the supervisory team (e.g. Wildtracks in Belize and/or MadaGap in Madagascar) to observe the dispersal potential of particular focus species important for ecosystem function, reforestation and other other conservation measures. In Belize, a key question could be understanding the role of focal howling and spider monkeys in ecosystem regeneration, as seed dispersers and nutrient cyclers being reintroduced to areas from which they have been absent for decades. In Madagascar, a key question could be investigating the role of focal sifakas and dwarf lemurs as seed dispersers and nutrient cyclers whose territories span multiple forest fragments, both natural and anthropogenic, in the central highlands. Projects in both biodiversity hotspots can influence decisions around long-term management, future reintroductions, and wider rewilding efforts. Observational data gathered in the lab and/or field, could also be used to underpin numerical models, quantifying the potential contributions of focal species to dispersal and/or reforestation at local, regional, or global scales.

For further information on this project and details of how to apply to it please visit https://centa.ac.uk/studentship/2026-b14-primates-as-agents-of-dispersal-gastrointestinal-food-transit-time-and-its-downstream-effects-on-ecosystem-services/

Further information on how to apply for a CENTA studentship can be found on the CENTA website: https://centa.ac.uk/apply/

Funding notes:
This project is offered through the CENTA3 DLA, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Funding covers: annual stipend, tuition fees (at home-fee level), Research Training Support Grant.

Academic requirements: at least a 2:1 at UK BSc level or a pass at UK MSc level or equivalent.

Further information: https://centa.ac.uk/apply/

International students are eligible for studentships to a maximum of 30% of the cohort. Funding does not cover any additional costs relating to moving or residing in the UK. International applicants must fulfil the University of Birmingham’s international student entry requirements, including English language.  Further information: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgt/requirements-pgt/international/index.aspx.

References:
Abraham, A.J., Prys-Jones, T.O., De Cuyper, A., Ridenour, C., Hempson, G.P., Hocking, T., Clauss, M., Doughty, C.E., 2021. Improved estimation of gut passage time considerably affects trait-based dispersal models. Functional Ecology 35, 860–869.

*Baker, G. et al, submitted. Novel isotopic-tagging approach reveals threefold extension of animal gut-retention times.

McGrosky, A. et al. Gross intestinal morphometry and allometry in primates. Am. J. Primatol. 81, e23035 (2019).

*Available upon request.

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