Current Research
Reproductive Ecology of Female Baboons
Working with Dr. Archie and the Amboseli Baboon Research Project (ABRP), my PhD thesis is focused on understanding female reproduction and fitness. I am:
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Infant Baboon Social Development
After graduating from Duke, I worked with Duke graduate student Dr. Matthew Zipple in 2020 collecting field data on the intergenerational effects of early life adversity, specifically by conducting observational follows on maternal care. I also developed a supplemental ethogram that would allow us to more fully understand the social lives of the infants. Data from this project is currently being analyzed and written up for multiple manuscripts. I will be continuing observations of these focal animals, who are now adolescent females, for my PhD work. We will additionally be able to use data collected by the permanent ABRP field team to ask if social differences in infancy remain consistent over an individual’s lifespan and if there are any enduring fitness consequences. |
Lemur Reproductive Microbiomes
For my undergraduate Honors Thesis, I worked with Dr. Christine Drea and graduate student Dr. Sally Bornbusch to examine variation in the reproductive microbiomes of two species of lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center. Some females were naturally cycling, while some were on Depo-Provera, the same hormonal birth control used by many women. Over the course of the reproductive cycle, we took vaginal and labial swabs for microbiome analysis and collected serum for hormonal assays. We found significant differences in microbiome composition based on species, body site, and reproductive state, with variation that may be connected to host ecology. See the first of our papers from this project here. |