DSSS - The social genome in wild baboons

In group-living primates, social interactions are important to evolution in two ways. First, they influence fitness outcomes for individuals: both social hierarchies and patterns of social affiliation can account for significant variance in measures of fertility and/or mortality. Second, social processes shape the structure and distribution of genetic variation within and between populations. They thus set the stage for evolution to act. Here, I will present work from my group that seeks to understand these phenomena, centered on a long-term field study of wild baboons in Kenya. At the “individual” level, I will discuss our efforts to understand whether social transmission of microbes contributes to the observed relationship between social interactions and life outcomes. Then, at the “population” level, I will introduce our work on hybridization and admixture, including our emerging understanding of how behavior affects this process.