In evolutionary biology, life history refers to the way the stages of life are structured in a species. Life history variables include gestation period, age at weaning and first reproduction, inter-birth interval, and life span. These variables correlate highly with each other, as well as with body size, brain size, and dental development. This project will test the precision with which life history correlates with dental development, using histological and radiographic methods to determine the sequence and timing of crown and root development in six Asian primates. The project will use a new approach, controlling for the effects of body size by examining the variation in dental development in a gibbon, two leaf monkeys, and a macaque with similar body weights but differences in life history variables, as well as a larger siamang and a smaller macaque. Any patterns of correlation will be examined to determine how phylogenetic, demographic, and ecological effects on life history affect dental development. The results of this research will provide critical information on dental development in species for which very little is currently known and permit the construction of a new model of dental development that may be used in understanding life history strategies in primate and human evolution.
