School of Conservation Sciences

Amanda H. Korstjens

Senior Lecturer Biological Anthropology & Contact point for Erasmus & Socrates exchange programs for staff & students

Telephone: +44 (0) 01202 965 167 Email: akorstjens@bmth.ac.uk

Short summary

The underlying interest in my research is the complexity of behavioural strategies and how they are shaped to suit the environment an individual lives in through natural and sexual selection. Most of my research focuses on primates (incl. humans).

Main research topics:

The constraints and the evolution of sociality
The evolution of mating strategies and female sexual signals plus associated conflicts

Ongoing research projects include:

In collaboration with Dr Michael Heistermann from the German Primate Centre (DPZ) I investigate mating strategies of Ugandan colobine monkeys. This project focuses on the link between hormones and behaviour and the evolution of mating strategies. Further collaborators are Prof. Redouan Bshary, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) and Prof. Colin Chapman, McGill University (Canada).
In collaboration with Dr Filippo Aureli and Dr Norberto Asensio from Liverpool John Moores’ University I study the behavioural ecology of Costa-Rican spider monkeys.
Together with Prof. Robin Dunbar and Dr Julia Lehmann and as an associate of the British Academy project ‘From lucy to language’, I work on developing mathematical models to help us understand early human social systems and primate distribution patterns in relation to climate.

Qualifications

Ph.D. (2001) in Biology Utrecht University, Netherlands. Specialisation: Behavioural Ecology B.Sc. & M.Phil. equivalent (1995) in Biology Utrecht University, Netherlands. Specialisations: Immunology and Behavioural Ecology

Membership of Professional Bodies

Regular member of Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, Flora and Fauna International, Conservation International, International Primatological Society, , British Ecological Society Council member of the Primatological Society of Great Britain

Conferences attended

International Conferences at which I presented a paper (since 2004):

2006 BES Annual meeting, Oxford, UK

2006 29th Congress Int. Primatol. Soc., Entebbe, Uganda

2005 Congress: 5. Göttinger Freilandtage, Germany

2004 29th Congress Int. Primatol. Soc., Torino, Italy

Invited research seminars given at Universities and Workshops:

2006 ‘Firing up the social brain’ Workshop of the British Academy Centenary Project ‘Lucy to Language’ Liverpool, UK

2006 McGill Université, Montreal, Canada

2006 Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland

2006 University of Chester UK

2005 University of Vienna, Austria

2005 University of Liverpool, UK

2005 ‘Kinship in non-human primates’ Workshop Roy. Anthropol. Inst. ‘Early human kinship’, Gregynog, UK

2005 Workshop of the British Academy Centenary Project ‘Lucy to Language’, Southampton

2004 Conversazione British Academy Centenary Project ‘Lucy to Language’, Chester, UK

2004 ‘Fission-Fusion and human evolution’ workshop, Torino, Italy

2004 Durham University, UK

2003 University of Calgary, Canada

2003 University of Lethbridge, Canada

2002 Cambridge University, UK

2002 NY Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, USA

Research and Consultancy Interests

Behavioural Ecology: especially mating strategies and social strategies in relation to the ecology of primate species

Early Human Evolution studying humans as just another primate

Modern human and non-human primate behaviour (e.g. mating strategies & related aggression)

Primate Conservation and the effects of climate change on distribution patterns

Responsibilities and External Commitments

Contact point for Erasmus & Socrates exchange programs for staff and students

Secondary supervisor 2 M.Phil. students, University of Neuchâtel , Switzerland

Internal Examiner 1 M.Sc. student transfer viva

Supervisor Postdoc Project Dr N. Asensio, Liverpool John Moores University

Peer reviewer for the following journals: Behav Ecol Sociobiol, Am J Primatol , Int J Primatol, Behav Ecol, Primates

Peer reviewed grant proposals for the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA (2003, 2007)

Teaching Commitments

Course	Unit	Level
BSc FCSS & AB	Human Anatomy and Physiology FS1/4	C
BSc FCSS	Research Skills (Computer skills section)	C
BSc AB	Applied Biology (1/3 of unit)	I
BSc FCSS & AB & AFS	Biological Anthropology (Evolutionary Anthropology section)	I
BSc AHE programs	Evolutionary Anthropology	H

Research and Consultancy

Peer reviewed articles (all available upon request)

Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (submitted). Time management in great apes: implications for gorilla biogeography.

Korstjens AH, J Lehmann, RIM Dunbar (submitted) The ecological and dietary determinants of forced resting time in primates. Submitted to Oecologia

Korstjens, AH, RH Layton, CP van Schaik, C Boesch, & RIM Dunbar (forthcoming). Fission-fusion dynamics and the evolution of complex human societies. Curr Anthrop

Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (forthcoming). Group size, grooming and social cohesion in primates. Anim Behav

Lehmann, J, AH Korstjens, & RIM Dunbar (forthcoming 2007). Fission-fusion social systems as a strategy for coping with ecological constraints: a primate case. Evol Ecol. DOI 10.1007/s10682-006-9141-9

Korstjens, AH, & RIM Dunbar (2007). Time constraints limit group sizes and distribution in red and black-and-white colobus monkeys. Int. J. Primatol. DOI 10.1007/s10764-007-9148-2

Wich, SA, R Steenbeek, EHM Sterck, AH Korstjens, EP Willems, & CP van Schaik (2007). Demography and life history of Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi). Am J Primatol . 69:641-651.

Korstjens, AH, IL Verhoeckx, & RIM Dunbar (2006). Time as a constraint on group size in spider monkeys. Behav Ecol Sociobiol. 60:683-69

Korstjens, AH, EC Nijssen, & R Noë (2005). Inter-group relationships in western black-and-white colobus, Colobus polykomos polykomos. Int. J. Primatol. 26(6): 1267-1289

Korstjens, AH, & R Noë (2004). The mating system of an exceptional primate, the olive colobus (Procolobus verus). Am. J. Primatol.62: 261-273.

Korstjens, AH, & EPh Schippers (2003). Dispersal patterns among olive colobus in Taï National Park . Int. J. Primatol. 24(3): 515-540.

Korstjens, AH, EHM Sterck, & R Noë (2002). How adaptive or phylogenetically inert is primate social behaviour? A test with two sympatric colobines. Behaviour 139:203-225.

Jeurissen F, A Kavelaars, M Korstjens, et al. (1994) Monocytes express a non-neurokinin substance P receptor that is functionally coupled to MAP kinase. J Immunol 152:2987-2994.

Peer reviewed book chapters and PhD (all available upon request)

Korstjens AH (forthcoming 2008) Kinship in non-human primates. In: Early Human Kinship . Blackwell Publishing

Korstjens, AH, & A Galat-Luong (forthcoming 2008). Colobus polykomos. In Mammals of Africa . J Kingdon, DCD Happold, & TM Butynski (Eds). Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Oates, JF, & AH Korstjens (forthcoming 2008). Procolobus verus. In Mammals of Africa . J. Kingdon, DCD Happold, & TM Butynski (Eds). Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Korstjens, AH, K Bergman, et al. (2007). How small-scale differences in food competition lead to different social systems in three closely related sympatric colobines. In The monkeys of the Taï Forest, Ivory Coast: an African primate community. S McGraw, K Zuberbühler, & R Noë (Eds). Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp. 72-108

Sterck, EHM, & AH Korstjens (2000). Female dispersal and infanticide avoidance in primates. In Infanticide by males and its implications. CP van Schaik & CH Janson (Eds), pp. 293-321. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Steenbeek, R, AH Korstjens, & CP van Schaik. (1999). Tenure related changes in wild Thomas's langurs III : Range use. In Female choice and male coercion in wild Thomas's langurs. PhD thesis R Steenbeek, pp. 117-136. Utrecht .

Korstjens, AH (2001). The mob, the secret sorority, and the phantoms. An analysis of the socio-ecol ogical strategies of the three colobines of Taï. PhD thesis, Utrecht University . ISBN 90-393-2752-1

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