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, hormonal patterns, and genetic polymorphisms among different species of baboons and other primates (Kalbitzer et al., 2015, 2016, 2017; Kalbitzer & Chapman, 2021), the effects of maternal sociality and male behavior on infant survival in capuchin monkeys (Kalbitzer et al., 2017), and the link between feeding competition and energetic condition in female capuchins (Bergstrom et al., 2020). For more details, please follow the links to my projects on male-male competition in baboons and costs and benefits of female sociability in white-faced capuchins and red colobus monkeys.
This research also highlights how behavioral effects (namely, the effects of infanticide) can overshadow climatic effects on primate survival (Campos et al., 2020), stressing that behavioral dimensions have to be considered when investigating the impact of environmental change on animals. My future goal in this area is to investigate how interspecific variability in social- and non-social behavior is linked to ecological factors and fitness across a large number of mammalian species by conducting comparative studies using published data on behavior, life-history parameters, and ecology in combination with the development of computer simulations of virtual animal populations.