Abstract Draft

This is a first draft of my abstract

Ecologic Factors Influencing Hormone Concentrations in Female Baboons

Although studies have shown how ecologic factors influence human female hormone concentrations and male baboon hormone concentrations, little is known about how these same factors effect female baboon hormone concentrations. This study measures correlations between estrogen, progesterone, and glucocorticoid levels and rank, weather, parity, age in the female yellow baboon population in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. To determine the hormone concentrations, each fecal sample collected in Kenya was purified into a serum. Radioimmunoassays were then run on each sample, and hormone concentrations were correlated with field data on the individual the sample was from, time of sample, rank, and temperature. Although we do not yet have results, our hypothesis is that female baboon hormone concentrations and female human hormone concentrations will be similarly affected by parity and age, and that weather will effect both male and female baboon hormone concentrations similarly. Rank in female baboons is matrilineal, that is, a daughter baboon will be lower in rank than her mother suggesting that rank and hormone concentrations would not be correlated.

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