Biology subjects

Tuliozi, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Tuliozi, B..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Both genetic and social inheritance influence female aggressive and submissive behavior in a wild primate

Agonistic interactions are important determinants of resource access in wild animals, but their genetic basis remains poorly understood. Here we use a quantitative genetics approach to estimate the heritability of aggressive and submissive behavior of wild female baboons, considering relative rates of both individual and dyadic aggression and submission. To control for the social inheritance that creates kin-based dominance hierarchies, we implemented a multi-matrix model that included a social status similarity matrix alongside the additive genetic matrix. Despite a substantial contribution of social inheritance, especially for submissive behavior, we found heritable components for both aggressive and submissive behavior (h2=0.21 and h2=0.09-0.11, respectively). In dyadic models, aggressive behavior was primarily influenced by the aggressor's genotype (a direct genetic effect), while submissive behavior was primarily affected by the social partner's genotype (an indirect genetic effect). Finally, we found evidence for a negative genetic (but not phenotypic) correlation between aggressive and submissive behavior within dyads, and a negative genetic correlation between submissive behavior and eliciting submissive behavior. Together, our results highlight how direct genetic, indirect genetic, and social inheritance effects combine to influence primate social behavior.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Lifetime fitness and annual survival are heritable and highly genetically correlated in a wild primate population

The additive genetic variance (VA) of fitness quantifies the expected response to selection; lifetime breeding success (LBS) is an effective metric of fitness in animal populations. However, data on LBS are relatively rare for wild populations of long-lived species, while time-limited metrics such as annual survival or fertility are more readily available. The magnitude of VA for these time-limited metrics, and the degree to which they are genetically correlated with LBS, remains unclear in most cases. Here we estimated the VA and heritability (h2) of LBS and four time-limited fitness metrics in wild female baboons in Kenya. The most highly heritable metrics were LBS (h2=0.25) and annual survival (h2=0.23). Notably, all the VA for LBS was attributable to survival to first successful reproduction. Furthermore, all fitness metrics examined were highly genetically correlated with each other, supporting the potential use of time-limited metrics where LBS data are limited. Our analyses predicted faster phenotypic evolution than we observed, raising the possibility that environmental effects have masked responses to selection ("cryptic evolution") or that social effects inflate estimated VA. Together, our findings reveal a substantial genetic contribution to variation in survival, and in turn, to fitness and contemporary evolution in a long-lived animal.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Demographic, behavioral, and ecological data from a long-term field study of wild baboons in Amboseli, Kenya

Long-term data sets on individually recognized animals and their environments are critical to understanding animal behavior, evolution, and ecology. However, they are resource- and time-intensive and seldom made publicly available. The Amboseli Baboon Research Project (ABRP) is one of the longest-running studies of a wild mammal population in the world and has collected extensive data on the baboon population of the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya since 1971. Here, we describe four ABRP data sets newly available to the evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and primatology communities: (1) the sizes and demographic compositions of 21 social groups from 1971-2023; (2) the activity budgets of adult females and immatures from 1984-2023; (3) behavioral data on diet for adult females and immatures from 1984-2023; and (4) weather data, including precipitation from 1976-2023 and temperature from 1976-2022. Data are aggregated annually and monthly to enable cross-data set analyses. These data offer a rare longitudinal perspective on behavioral and ecological change in a wild mammal population.

animal behavior and cognition↗