Urs Kalbitzer
Urs Kalbitzer

Research Group Leader

University of Konstanz, Germany & Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany

I am a behavioral ecologist and in my research I aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of environmental factors on animal behavior and fitness. I use quantitative methods to integrate long-term behavioral, life-history, physiological and genetic data from wild primate populations with climate and plant ecological data to gain insights into the effects of changing environments on the behavioral ecology and survival of these threatened species. I have worked on multiple species, including baboons (Papio spp.), white-faced capuchins (Cebus imitator), African green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) and spider monkeys (Ateles spp.). My current focus is on red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda, where I have access to a uniquely broad long-term dataset. I also use computational approaches to investigate and validate quantitative methods and I am expanding this research by developing simulations to explore theoretical ideas about animal-environment interactions at the individual and population levels. My current research projects revolve around three themes: (1) Primate responses to environmental change, (2) Nutritional landscapes, animal behavior, and forest composition, and (3) Primate behavioral evolution.

I am passionate about applying quantitative methods and data analysis in general, and enthusiastic about teaching such methods and scientific workflows to students. I have documented introductions to some of these methods online to make them accessible to any interested student and/or researcher (https://bedatablog.netlify.com – will be soon migrated to this webpage).

Projects
Primate responses to changing environments. featured image

Primate responses to changing environments.

According to the IUCN, about 60% of the world’s ~500 primate species are threatened by extinction, and this is mainly the result of human activity. Environmental changes linked to …

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Nutritional landscapes, animal behavior, and forest composition

Many theories about the ecology and evolution of behavior are centered around food resource distribution but the assessments of such distribution are often extremely coarse, and …

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Primate behavioral evolution

Complimentary to my other research, I am investigating the evolution of primate social behavior. My work has resulted in insights into variation in male and female social behavior, …

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Female sociability and fitness in primates featured image

Female sociability and fitness in primates

In many mammals, including humans, individuals form groups in which social relationships can be highly differentiated (i.e., some individuals form strong relationships, while …

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Male-male competition and tolerance in baboons. featured image

Male-male competition and tolerance in baboons.

In mammals, the most common male reproductive strategy is to compete intensely over access to receptive females, and males show little interest in cooperating with each other. …

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Publications

As of 2025-10-10

Patrick Lauer, Colin A. Chapman, Patrick Omeja, Jessica M. Rothman, Urs Kalbitzer (2025). A long-term study on food choices and nutritional goals of a leaf-eating primate. Ecosphere.
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Laura Lüthy, Colin A. Chapman, Patrick Lauer, Patrick Omeja, Urs Kalbitzer (2025). Solar radiation and atmospheric CO$_2$ predict young leaf production in a moist evergreen tropical forest: Insights from 23 years. arXiv.
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Rong Hou, Jan F. Gogarten, Martin Golooba, Urs Kalbitzer, Dorothy Kirumira, Patrick A. Omeja, Emmanuel A. Opito, Rafael Reyna-Hurtado, Dipto Sarkar, Charles Tumwesigye, Colin A. Chapman (2024). Parks can effectively protect ungulates and elephants despite a constant poaching threat. Global Ecology and Conservation.
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Dipto Sarkar, Jan F. Gogarten, Xiaofan Liang, Clio Andris, Emmanuel Abwa Opito, Kim Valenta, Urs Kalbitzer, Raja Sengupta, Colin A. Chapman (2024). Impacts of COVID-19 on Biodiversity Conservation and Community Networks at Kibale National Park, Uganda. The Professional Geographer.
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Colin A. Chapman, Jan F. Gogarten, Martin Golooba, Urs Kalbitzer, Patrick A. Omeja, Emmanuel A. Opito, Dipto Sarkar (2023). Fifty+ years of primate research illustrates complex drivers of abundance and increasing primate numbers. American Journal of Primatology.
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Christina Lynggaard, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, Colin A. Chapman, Urs Kalbitzer, Fabian H. Leendertz, Patrick A. Omeja, Emmanuel A. Opito, Dipto Sarkar, Kristine Bohmann, Jan F. Gogarten (2023). Vertebrate environmental DNA from leaf swabs. Current Biology.
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Emmanuel A. Opito, Timo Alanko, Urs Kalbitzer, Matti Nummelin, Patrick Omeja, Anu Valtonen, Colin A. Chapman (2023). 30 years brings changes to the arthropod community of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Biotropica.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Martin Golooba, Colin A. Chapman (2023). Site Fidelity and Home Range Shifts in a Leaf-Eating Primate. Movement Ecology of Afrotropical Forest Mammals.
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Mueena Jahan, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer, Colin A. Chapman, Urs Kalbitzer, Fabian H. Leendertz, Patrick A. Omeja, Dipto Sarkar, Markus Ulrich, Jan F. Gogarten (2023). The Movement of Pathogen Carrying Flies at the Human–Wildlife Interface. EcoHealth.
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Cate Twining-Ward, Jorge Ramos Luna, Janaína Paula Back, Joselyne Barakagwira, Júlio César Bicca-Marques, Mathilde Chanvin, Nona Diko, Julie Duboscq, Pengfei Fan, Carmen Galán-Acedo, Jan F. Gogarten, Songtao Guo, Diana C. Guzman-Caro, Rong Hou, Urs Kalbitzer, Beth A. Kaplin, Sean M. Lee, Addisu Mekonnen, Paulin Mungongo, Himani Nautiyal, Patrick Omeja, Veronarindra Ramananjato, Nasandratra Nancia Raoelinjanakolona, Onja Razafindratsima, Cécile Sarabian, Dipto Sarkar, Juan Carlos Serio-Silva, Risma Yanti, Colin A. Chapman (2022). Social media’s potential to promote conservation at the local level: an assessment in eleven primate range countries. Folia Primatologica.
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Roi Harel, Shauhin Alavi, Alison M. Ashbury, Jillian Aurisano, Tanya Berger-Wolf, Grace H. Davis, Ben T. Hirsch, Urs Kalbitzer, Roland Kays, Kevin Mclean, Chase L. Núñez, Alexander Vining, Zea Walton, Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller, Margaret C. Crofoot (2022). Life in 2.5D: Animal Movement in the Trees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
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Andrew Hacket-Pain, Jessie J. Foest, Ian S. Pearse, Jalene M. LaMontagne, Walter D. Koenig, Giorgio Vacchiano, Michał Bogdziewicz, Thomas Caignard, Paulina Celebias, Joep Van Dormolen, Marcos Fernández-Martínez, Jose v. Moris, Ciprian Palaghianu, Mario Pesendorfer, Akiko Satake, Eliane Schermer, Andrew J. Tanentzap, Peter A. Thomas, Davide Vecchio, Andreas P. Wion, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Tingting Xue, Katharine Abernethy, Marie-Claire Aravena Acuña, Marcelo Daniel Barrera, Jessica H. Barton, Stan Boutin, Emma R. Bush, Sergio Donoso Calderón, Felipe S. Carevic, Carolina Volkmer De Castilho, Juan Manuel Cellini, Colin A. Chapman, Hazel Chapman, Francesco Chianucci, Patricia Da Costa, Luc Croisé, Andrea Cutini, Ben Dantzer, R. Justin DeRose, Jean-Thoussaint Dikangadissi, Edmond Dimoto, Fernanda Lopes Da Fonseca, Leonardo Gallo, Georg Gratzer, David F. Greene, Martín A. Hadad, Alejandro Huertas Herrera, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Jill F. Johnstone, Urs Kalbitzer, Władysław Kantorowicz, Christie A. Klimas, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Jeffrey Lane, Katharina Lapin, Mateusz Ledwoń, Abigail C. Leeper, Maria Vanessa Lencinas, Ana Cláudia Lira-Guedes, Michael C. Lordon, Paula Marchelli, Shealyn Marino, Harald Schmidt Van Marle, Andrew G. McAdam, Ludovic R. W. Momont, Manuel Nicolas, Lúcia Helena De Oliveira Wadt, Parisa Panahi, Guillermo Martínez Pastur, Thomas Patterson, Pablo Luis Peri, Łukasz Piechnik, Mehdi Pourhashemi, Claudia Espinoza Quezada, Fidel A. Roig, Karen Peña Rojas, Yamina Micaela Rosas, Silvio Schueler, Barbara Seget, Rosina Soler, Michael A. Steele, Mónica Toro-Manríquez, Caroline E. G. Tutin, Tharcisse Ukizintambara, Lee White, Biplang Yadok, John L. Willis, Anita Zolles, Magdalena Żywiec, Davide Ascoli (2022). MASTREE+: Time-series of plant reproductive effort from six continents. Global Change Biology.
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Colin A. Chapman, Katherine Abernathy, Lauren J. Chapman, Colleen Downs, Edu O. Effiom, Jan F. Gogarten, Martin Golooba, Urs Kalbitzer, Michael J. Lawes, Addisu Mekonnen, Patrick Omeja, Onja Razafindratsima, Douglas Sheil, Gary M. Tabor, Charles Tumwesigye, Dipto Sarkar (2022). The future of sub-Saharan Africa’s biodiversity in the face of climate and societal change. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
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Colin A. Chapman, Carmen Galán-Acedo, Jan F. Gogarten, Rong Hou, Michael J. Lawes, Patrick A. Omeja, Dipto Sarkar, Anna Sugiyama, Urs Kalbitzer (2021). A 40-year evaluation of drivers of African rainforest change. Forest Ecosystems.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Colin A. Chapman (2021). Patterns of female social relationships in a primate with female-biased dispersal. Animal Behaviour.
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Linda M. Fedigan, Jeremy D. Hogan, Fernando A. Campos, Urs Kalbitzer, Katharine M. Jack (2021). Costs of male infanticide for female capuchins: When does an adaptive male reproductive strategy become costly for females and detrimental to population viability?. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
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Kayla S. Hartwell, Hugh Notman, Urs Kalbitzer, Colin A. Chapman, Mary M. S. M. Pavelka (2021). Fruit availability has a complex relationship with fission–fusion dynamics in spider monkeys. Primates.
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Colin A. Chapman, Julio Cesar Bicca-Marques, Amy E. Dunham, Pengfei Fan, Peter J. Fashing, Jan F. Gogarten, Songtao Guo, Michael A. Huffman, Urs Kalbitzer, Baoguo Li, Changyong Ma, Ikki Matsuda, Patrick A. Omeja, Dipto Sarkar, Raja Sengupta, Juan Carlos Serio-Silva, Yamato Tsuji, Nils C. Stenseth (2020). Primates Can Be a Rallying Symbol to Promote Tropical Forest Restoration. Folia Primatologica.
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Mackenzie L. Bergstrom, Urs Kalbitzer, Fernando A. Campos, Amanda D. Melin, Melissa Emery Thompson, Linda M. Fedigan (2020). Non-invasive estimation of the costs of feeding competition in a neotropical primate. Hormones and Behavior.
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Fernando A. Campos, Urs Kalbitzer, Amanda D. Melin, Jeremy D. Hogan, Saul E. Cheves, Evin Murillo-Chacon, Adrián Guadamuz, Monica S. Myers, Colleen M. Schaffner, Katharine M. Jack, Filippo Aureli, Linda M. Fedigan (2020). Differential impact of severe drought on infant mortality in two sympatric neotropical primates. Royal Society Open Science.
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Amanda D. Melin, Jeremy D. Hogan, Fernando A. Campos, Eva Wikberg, Gillian King‐Bailey, Shasta Webb, Urs Kalbitzer, Norberto Asensio, Evin Murillo‐Chacon, Saul Cheves Hernandez, Adrian Guadamuz Chavarria, Colleen M. Schaffner, Shoji Kawamura, Filippo Aureli, Linda Fedigan, Katharine M. Jack (2020). Primate life history, social dynamics, ecology, and conservation: Contributions from long-term research in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Biotropica.
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Anagaw Atickem, Nils Chr Stenseth, Peter J. Fashing, Nga Nguyen, Colin A. Chapman, Afework Bekele, Addisu Mekonnen, Patrick A. Omeja, Urs Kalbitzer (2019). Build science in Africa. Nature.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Victoria McInnis, Colin A. Chapman (2019). Primates create seedling growth hotspots through pattern of dung deposition. African Journal of Ecology.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Victoria McInnis, Patrick A. Omeja, Sarah Bortolamiol, Colin A. Chapman (2019). Does the presence of elephant dung create hotspots of growth for existing seedlings?. Journal of Tropical Ecology.
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Jeremy D. Hogan, Katharine M. Jack, Fernando A. Campos, Urs Kalbitzer, Linda M. Fedigan (2019). Group versus population level demographics: An analysis of comparability using long term data on wild white-faced capuchin monkeys (textitCebus capucinus imitator). American Journal of Primatology.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Colin A. Chapman (2018). Primate Responses to Changing Environments in the Anthropocene. Primate Life Histories, Sex Roles, and Adaptability.
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Kim Valenta, Urs Kalbitzer, Diary Razafimandimby, Patrick A. Omeja, Manfred Ayasse, Colin A. Chapman, Omer Nevo (2018). The evolution of fruit colour: phylogeny, abiotic factors and the role of mutualists. Scientific Reports.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Katharine M Jack (2018). Primate Life Histories, Sex Roles, and Adaptability - Essays in Honour of Linda M. Fedigan. Springer.
Colin A. Chapman, Patrick A. Omeja, Urs Kalbitzer, Penglai Fan, Michael J. Lawes (2018). Restoration Provides Hope for Faunal Recovery: Changes in Primate Abundance Over 45 Years in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Tropical Conservation Science.
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Colin a Chapman, Rong Hou, Urs Kalbitzer (2018). What will climate change mean for primates?. Primatology, Bio-cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development in Tropical Forests. A Global Perspective.
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Katharine M. Jack, Urs Kalbitzer (2017). How to cultivate a tree: Celebrating the career of Linda Marie Fedigan. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Mackenzie L. Bergstrom, Sarah D. Carnegie, Eva C. Wikberg, Shoji Kawamura, Fernando A. Campos, Katharine M. Jack, Linda M. Fedigan (2017). Female sociality and sexual conflict shape offspring survival in a Neotropical primate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Julia Fischer, Gisela H. Kopp, Federica Dal Pesco, Adeelia Goffe, Kurt Hammerschmidt, Urs Kalbitzer, Matthias Klapproth, Peter Maciej, Ibrahima Ndao, Annika Patzelt, Dietmar Zinner (2017). Charting the neglected West: The social system of Guinea baboons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Christian Roos, Gisela H. Kopp, Thomas M. Butynski, Sascha Knauf, Dietmar Zinner, Julia Fischer (2016). Insights into the genetic foundation of aggression in textitPapio and the evolution of two length-polymorphisms in the promoter regions of serotonin-related genes (5-HTTLPR and MAOALPR) in Papionini. BMC Evolutionary Biology.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Michael Heistermann, Dorothy Cheney, Robert Seyfarth, Julia Fischer (2015). Social behavior and patterns of testosterone and glucocorticoid levels differ between male chacma and Guinea baboons. Hormones and Behavior.
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Annika Patzelt, Gisela H. Kopp, Ibrahima Ndao, Urs Kalbitzer, Dietmar Zinner, Julia Fischer (2014). Male tolerance and male–male bonds in a multilevel primate society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Jan Kalbitzer, Urs Kalbitzer, Gitte Moos Knudsen, Paul Cumming, Andreas Heinz (2013). How the cerebral serotonin homeostasis predicts environmental changes: a model to explain seasonal changes of brain 5-HTT as intermediate phenotype of the 5-HTTLPR. Psychopharmacology.
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Brandon C. Wheeler, Barbara Tiddi, Urs Kalbitzer, Elisabetta Visalberghi, Michael Heistermann (2013). Methodological considerations in the analysis of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in tufted capuchins (textitCebus apella). International Journal of Primatology.
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Urs Kalbitzer, Michael Heistermann (2013). Long-term storage effects in steroid metabolite extracts from baboon (textitPapio sp.) faeces - a comparison of three commonly applied storage methods. Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
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