Joanna Lambert | University of Colorado, Boulder (original) (raw)

I am an evolutionary ecologist and integrative biological anthropologist. My research program centers on mammal nutritional biology and the natural selection and plasticity of feeding-related adaptations in mammals, especially primates and, more recently, carnivora. With these data, I explore the evolution of clade-level feeding traits (especially digestive physiology, gut microbes), the role of diet in evolution, extant community interactions among mammals and plants (especially seed dispersal) and the implemention of sound tactics for the conservation of biodiversity. Overall, my work informs three interrelated questions:

(1) How does digestive strategy and the gut microbiome co-vary with diet and nutritional niches?
(2) How do species’ diet and nutritional niches relate to patterns of macroevolution and species diversity?
(3) How do consumer dietary adaptations impact plant reproduction and forest ecology?

With these questions in mind, since 1991, I have worked at my primary field site, Kibale National Park, Uganda, studying the diet, feeding, and seed dispersal behavior of apes (chimpanzees), monkeys (cercopithecine and colobine), and frugivorous birds (Sturnidae, Bucerotidae, Columbidae). With my team of research assistants, students, and collaborators, I integrate behavioral and ecological data collected in the field with physiological, genetic, and nutritional information collected in the laboratory. My work on primate digestive strategies, frugivory, and seed dispersal is complemented by comparative information collected on fruit-eating carnivora such as binturongs, kinkajous, and gray foxes.

AFFILIATION:
Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of Colorado - Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309

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