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Research

My research is interdisciplinary and focuses on human-primate coexistence and evaluates methods used to study these complex relationships. The majority of my field work has been conducted in China, Indonesia and Madagascar looking at human-primate relationships (i.e., tourist interactions and how people value primates and the environment), population densities, population demographics and change over time, ranging behaviour, individual development, and social systems. I have studied a wide variety of primate species including, small apes (Hainan, Skywalker and Bornean white-bearded gibbons), great apes (Cross River gorillas and Bornean orangutans), lemurs (ring-tailed lemur and Coquerel's sifaka), and colobines (red langur monkeys).

 

In 2014, I fell in love with our singing, swinging cousins, the gibbons (Hylobatids), and have since directed my research focus. Hylobatidae are one of the most threatened families in the animal kingdom. The Hainan gibbon, for example, is one the world’s rarest mammals with less than 40 individuals remaining. This makes my research, investigating the human-gibbon interface in China, extremely important if we are to inform local, culturally-appropriate conservation initiatives to protect them from extinction.

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Below are previous research examples. See published works to learn more about my current research.

Population Dynamics in Bornean Agile gibbons

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Between 2014 and 2016 I worked for the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF), a conservation research NGO based in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. BNF has the longest running gibbon data set in the world, first initiated by Dr. Susan Cheyne. I collected a variety of data on this species relating to population size, distribution, social behaviour, diet, development and health. I was especially interested in population change over time, family dynamics and mating systems. See published works.

the importance of population monitoring
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Dr. Helen Morrogh-Bernard at BNF first began researching the Bornean orangutans in 2003. BNF now prides itself on having the second longest running orangutan project in the world. I was fortunate enough to spend two years adding to this data set looking at mother-infant relationships and population monitoring. I presented BNF's long-term population monitoring trend data between 1997 and 2015 at the International Conference on Rainforest Ecology, Diversity and Conservation in Borneo (Malaysia, 2015).

ground use in a disturbed peat swamp forest

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Dr. David Ehlers-Smith from BNF began collecting feeding, activity, population and ranging data on Red leaf monkeys in 2009. When I started managing the project, I focused the research efforts on social dynamics, ranging behaviour and forest use within different canopy strata. I also field-supervised a Masters research project on contexts of Red leaf monkey vocalisations. See published works.

tourism increases anxiety and aggression in ring-tailed lemurs
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For my MRes project, supervised by Dr. Caroline Ross, I investigated the impact of tourism pressures (proximity, density and presence) on ring-tailed lemur behaviour. My findings indicated that the greater the tourist pressure, more self-directed, anxiety-induced behaviours were observed. Intra-troop and inter-troop aggression was also more frequent.

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