Title       : Long Term Studies of African Lions
Type        : Award
NSF Org     : DEB
Latest
Amendment
Date        : December 10,  1990
File        : a8807702

Award Number: 8807702
Award Instr.: Continuing Grant
Prgm Manager: Gregory McCants
              DEB  DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY
              BIO  DIRECT FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Start Date  : October 15,  1988
Expires     : March 31,  1992
Expected
Total Amt.  : $322,760
Investigator: Craig   Packer   IQC6137@vx.cis.umn.edu
              Anne E Pusey
Sponsor     : U of Minnesota St Paul
              1919 University Avenue, S.E.
              Minneapolis, MN  55455                      612/625-2435

NSF Program : 1141     PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR
Fld Science : 45       Ecology
Fld Applictn: 0312000  Population
Abstract    :
     Cooperation is rare in animals, yet in species such as the
     African lion cooperation permeates all aspects of their lives.
     Cooperation is only expected to occur where animals associate
     persistently with their close kin, or where social interactions
     result in mutual benefit to each participant.  Gaining a full
     understanding of the evolution of cooperation therefore requires
     information on the precise ways that cooperation is elicited, the
     distribution of cooperative acts among companions of varying
     degrees of kinship and the effects of such cooperation on the
     participants' lifetime reproductive success.  Many different
     kinds of cooperative behavior in lions can be elicited by playing
     the recorded roars of intruders in their territories.  In the
     next three years the investigators will perform playbacks both
     where the willingness of an individual to cooperate is visible to
     its companions and where its behavior would be unseen.  Several
     other forms of cooperation will also be investigated under
     natural conditions.  The consequences of cooperative behavior in
     these lions can be estimated from the 22 years of demographic
     data available on the study populations.  These studies provide a
     unique opportunity to learn how animals have evolved complex
     forms of cooperative behavior.  The long term demographic data
     will also be used to develop detailed models of lion population
     dynamics.  These will be used to simulate the fates of
     populations of varying sizes and to calculate the potential
     impact of human disturbances on natural populations.