Commentaries on field-laboratory collaborations in primatology: Introduction to a special section of the American Journal of Primatology

Finding better approaches to bridge field and laboratory primate research was identified as an important goal in a recent (2017) member survey of the American Society of Primatologists. Collaborative field-captive research was identified by >60% of respondents as somewhat or very underrepresented in the Society. In this introductory essay for a special section of American Journal of Primatology, I review commonalities and differences in the papers that were requested from field-captive primate collaborative teams. Each team approached important primate biology or welfare problems from different perspectives. The five commentaries in this section addressed how the collaborations began, scientific benefits that accrued, and insights or challenges that researchers faced in the collaboration. Despite the fact that the specific fields of inquiry were different (conservation genetics, chimpanzee captive welfare, environmental physiology, feeding biology, and reproductive physiology), the commentaries converged on the concept that an intentional, interdisciplinary approach, that included field observations and experiments informed by laboratory expertise, were essential to achieving innovative results.