Weekly ScheduleSpring 2016 Week 1 Jan. 29 Sign-up, first meeting Week 2 Feb. 05 canceled because of snow Week 3 Feb. 12 Rachel Perlman Week 4 Feb. 19 Gena Sbeglia Week 5 Feb. 26 Francesco Fasano Week 6 Mar. 04 Lauren Petrullo Week 7 Mar. 11 Eliot Monaco Week 8 Mar. 18 No meeting – spring break Week 9 Mar. 25 Guest speaker Noah Snyder-Mackler Week 10 Apr. 01 AAPA practice presentations I Week 11 Apr. 08 AAPA practice presentations II Week 12 Apr. 15 No meeting – AAPA conference in Atlanta Week 13 Apr. 22 Guest speaker Herman Pontzer Week 14 Apr. 29 Katherine Kling Week 15 May 06 Amy Lu
May 06, 2016 Amy Lu is leading the discussion on: Badescu I, Wikberg EC, MacDonald LJ, Fox SA, Vayro JV, Crotty A, Sicotte P. 2016. Infanticide pressure accelerates infant development in a wild primate. Anim Behav 114:231-239.
April 29, 2016 Katherine Kling is leading the discussion on: Hockings KJ, Anderson JR, Matsuzawa T. 2012. Socioecological adaptations by chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus, inhabiting an anthropogenically impacted habitat. Anim Behav 83:801-810.
April 22, 2016 Guest speaker Herman Pontzer Department of Anthropology, Hunter College "Metabolic evolution and adaptive strategies in humans and other primates" How do daily energy requirements differ among species, and how do strategies for allocating energy to growth, reproduction, maintenance, movement, and other tasks evolve? Here I examine total energy expenditures among a diverse sample of primates, including humans and apes. In contrast to most current models for energy expenditure, we find no effect of physical activity or the size of the brain (a metabolically expensive organ) on variation in energy requirements among species. Instead, metabolic rates appear to be driven in large part by life history variables. I discuss the implications of these results for understanding ecology and evolution in primates and other animals.
April 15, 2016 No meeting – AAPA meetings in Atlanta
April 08, 2016 Marcy Ekanayake-Weber presents her talk for the upcoming AAPA meetings on "Female power in a male-dominated society: simulating how female kin reunite in hamadryas baboons"
Carrie Mongle presents her talk for the upcoming AAPA meetings on "Expensive tissue and gestation length in primates"
April 01, 2016 Elise Lauterbur presents her poster for the upcoming AAPA meetings on "Lemurs are not special, but Aye-Ayes are: primate basal metabolic rates in phylogenetic context"
Andreas Koenig presents his poster for the upcoming AAPA meetings on "Female reproductive success in an age-inversed hierarchy: the effects of age, parity, and rank"
March 25, 2016 Guest speaker Noah Snyder-Mackler Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University "Cellular, genomic, and immune consequences of social adversity" In social mammals, social adversity is often associated with fitness costs, but the mechanisms that underlie these effects remain elusive. Here, we experimentally manipulated social status in rhesus macaques and investigated its consequences for genome-wide gene regulation. We found (i) pervasive effects of social status on immune cell specific gene expression; (ii) that status-related changes in affiliative social behaviors partially mediate these effects; (iii) that these changes compromise normal immune responses; and (iv) that changes in social status are accompanied by rapid changes in gene expression at social status-associated loci. Together, our findings provide novel insight into the importance of both behavioral and molecular mechanisms in linking social status to health and fitness-related consequences.
March 11, 2016 Eliot Monaco is leading the discussion on Majolo B, de Bortoli Vizioli A & Lehman J. 2016. The effect of intergroup competition on intragroup affiliation in primates. Anim Behav 114:13-19.
March 04, 2016 Lauren Petrullo is leading the discussion on: Blanton LV, Charbonneau MR, Salih T, Barratt MJ, Venkatesh S, Ilkaveya O, Subramanian S, Manary MJ, Trehan I, Jorgensen JM, Fan Y, Henrissat B, Leyn SA, Rodionov DA, Osterman AL, Maleta KM, Newgard CB, Ashorn P, Dewey KG & Gordon JI. 2016. Gut bacteria that prevent growth impairments transmitted by microbiota from malnourished children. Science 351:aad3311-3311. February 26, 2016 Francesco Fasano is leading the discussion on: Creel S and Creel N M 2015. Opposing effects of group size on reproduction and survival in African wild dogs. Behav Ecol 26: 1414-1422
February 19, 2016 Gena Sbeglia is leading the discussion on: Bischoff et al. 2014. Context-dependent reproductive isolation mediated by floral scent and color. Evolution 69: 1-13
February 12, 2016 Rachel Perlman presents on her dissertation pilot work: "My dissertation research is on the energetics of male reproductive strategies in geladas. My project will explore the relationship between male energetic condition, physiology, and behavior by combining non-invasive hormone analyses with field observations. This fall I went to the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia to conduct a 2.5-month pilot study. The goals were to: (1) learn to individually identify known individuals, (2) learn the behavioral data collection protocol, and (3) determine the feasibility of collecting urine samples for analysis of C-peptide. I will briefly discuss the objectives of my dissertation research, preliminary results from my pilot study, and my experiences living in Ethiopia."