Research Interests and Projects

Everything revolves around food……

I am a Research Scientist in the Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology. My research interests cover a broad array of topics that revolve around the central theme of how primates are able to acquire the food resources they need for survival. Specifically, I study the role that food resources play in structuring the behaviour, social organization, and morphology of non-human primates and early hominins. Within this theme, my research activities fall into two main categories: 1) the study of the proximate and ultimate mechanisms of diet selection and, 2) the integration of game theory and evolutionary ecology to model costs and benefits associated with foraging decision, sociality, and food-related aggression. These areas are driving my field and laboratory research on diverse subjects in anthropology, evolutionary biology, and ecology.

My current projects include :

1) Geographic Variation in Orangutan Diet

2) Functional Ecology and Evolution of Hominoid Craniodental Morphology

3) Digestive efficiency, protein balance, and energetics in non-human primates

My past research projects include:

1) The Ecological Basis of Aggression in White-faced capuchin monkeys

2) Coalitions and the Evolution of Cooperation

3) Functional significance of the M/L cone opsin polymorphism in
New World Primates

****Press about Orangutan Study****

****Press about Orangutan Study****

****BBC Radio 4 Interview****

****Colby College Magazine Article****

****Mechanical Food Properties Press Coverage****

****Animal Planet "Raw Nature" Press Coverage****