Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: GESSICA RAFAELLY DANTAS DA SILVA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : GESSICA RAFAELLY DANTAS DA SILVA
DATE: 12/03/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Sala 1 PPG Psicobiologia
TITLE:

Spatial Cognition and Movement Patterns in Wild Common Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

KEY WORDS:

Caatinga, cognition, movement ecology, primates

PAGES: 100
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Comparativa
SPECIALTY: Estudos Naturalísticos do Comportamento Animal
SUMMARY:

Animal movement is a fundamental process for survival, linking the spatial distribution of resources to the decision-making processes that determine access to them. This behavior results from the interaction between ecological and cognitive mechanisms operating across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Understanding its causes requires integrating approaches traditionally treated in parallel: movement ecology, which describes the geometry of movement paths as a function of the spatial structure of resources; decision-making processes, which reveal the rules and heuristics used locally; and spatial cognition, which investigates how memory and mental representations organize navigation. This thesis investigates how the spatial and temporal distribution of resources modulates the movement strategies of Callithrix jacchus in the Caatinga, adopting an integrative perspective that transitions from the description of stochastic patterns to the inference of cognitive navigation mechanisms. The research is structured into four interdependent chapters. The first chapter presents a theoretical synthesis of the literature on spatial navigation in primates, highlighting the plasticity in the use of heuristics and different types of spatial representations varying with ecological context. The second chapter contrasts null search models, such as Lévy walks, with models based on spatial heuristics, assessing whether trajectory geometry reflects decisions guided by memory and foraging patch productivity. The third chapter deepens the analysis of the spatial organization of movement, investigating fidelity and flexibility in route use across seasonal cycles, under the hypothesis that resource predictability during the dry season favors the reuse of familiar paths. Finally, the fourth chapter examines the nature of the species' spatial representation, testing the hypothesis that marmosets use a graph-based map model, integrating topological and local metric information (distance and direction) to enable flexible navigation between known locations. By combining long-term data with multiple movement analyses, we aim to test if C. jacchus navigation emerges from a dynamic, context-dependent system in which simple decision rules and spatial representations are adjusted to the demands of a highly seasonal environment. Thus, the study contributes to an integrated understanding of the mechanisms governing space use in Neotropical primates and advances the conceptual development at the interface between movement ecology and spatial cognition.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1149552 - ARRILTON ARAUJO DE SOUZA
Interno - 2316116 - FELIPE NALON CASTRO
Interna - 2696495 - RENATA GONCALVES FERREIRA