Nuevas plazas de doctorado y trabajo de campo

PhD Studentship in Social Learning

Hiring Organization:
University of St Andrews

Date Posted:
2006-11-23

Position Description:
Applications are invited for an EU-funded postgraduate studentship (fees plus stipend) to study social learning processes in capuchin monkeys. The successful applicant will work under the supervision of Professor Kevin Laland and Dr Rachel Kendal to conduct experimental investigations evaluating social learning strategies in zoo-based populations of monkeys. The project is part of an EU NEST-Pathfinder initiative on cultural dynamics, and involves collaboration with a network of European researchers.

Qualifications/Experience:
The ideal candidate would have a degree in behavioural biology, and knowledge of social learning and cultural evolution.

Salary/funding:
Tuition fees plus stipend are provided.

Term of Appointment:
3 years, commencing 1 January 2007 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Application Deadline:
December 13th

Comments:
Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV detailing their qualifications and interest in the topic to Rachel Kendal from whom further information may be obtained.

Contact Information:
Dr Rachel Kendal
School of Psychology, University of St Andrews
St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP
United Kingdom

E-mail Address:
RachelKendal2003@yahoo.co.uk

PhD positions

Hiring Organization:
Leipzig School of Human Origins

Date Posted:
2006-11-23

Position Description:
We invite applications for the Leipzig School of Human Origins, a joint graduate program of the University of Leipzig (Germany) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

This program provides interdisciplinary training and research opportunities for university graduates who wish to work towards a PhD in anthropology, biology, evolutionary genetics, primatology, paleoanthropology and related fields. Each student will apply for - and be accepted to - one of the following disciplines:

1) Comparative primatology -- focusing on the evolution of social and cultural systems in the great apes, as well as other relevant mammals.

2) Evolutionary and Functional Genomics / Ancient DNA / Molecular Anthropology

a. Evolutionary genomics / Ancient DNA -- focusing on the evolutionary and functional genomics of humans and the great apes, as well as the retrieval of DNA from palaeontological remains.

b. Molecular Anthropology - focusing on the origin, relationships, history, and migration patterns of human populations.

3) Human Paleontology, Prehistoric Archaeology and Archaeological Science -- focusing on the study of hominid fossils and archaeological sites. This includes comparative morphological as well as chemical (isotopic) analyses.

Graduate students will be accepted to one of these areas but will have the opportunity to take part in courses and seminars in all of them. Our PhD program is open for international students and is designed as a 3-year-program.

Qualifications/Experience:
We invite applications from all countries. Applicants must hold a Masters degree, a Diploma or equivalent in biology, biochemistry, anthropology, or related fields.

It is not necessary to hold the degree at the point of application. However, you must have been awarded your degree prior to the start of the program in September.

Candidates have to be fluent in written and spoken English. German is not required but international students will be offered opportunities to take German courses.

Salary/funding:
PhD students are supported by pre-doctoral fellowships which are provided either by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology or the University of Leipzig; or have been obtained by the student.

Term of Appointment:
Fall 2007

Application Deadline:
January 31, 2007

Comments:
Leipzig is a highly livable city in the center of Europe (www.leipzig.de).

Contact Information:
Sandra Jacob
Deutscher Platz 6
Leipzig, Saxony 04103
Germany

Telephone Number:
++493413550122

Fax Number:
++493413550119

Website:
http://www.leipzig-school.eva.mpg.de

E-mail Address:
leipzig-school@eva.mpg.de

Field Assistant Position for Primate Research in Peru

Hiring Organization:
Inés Nole

Date Posted:
2006-11-23

Position Description:
I am looking for volunteers to assist with the data collection for my investigation “Intestinal parasite loads of a Neotropical Primate measured in disturbed and undisturbed forests”.

The aim of this project is to understand the human influence on parasite infection in a wild species of a Neotropical Monkey.

Fieldwork will take place at the Los Amigos Research Center (CICRA) – Madre de Dios – Perú, Check out the website: http://www.amazonconservation.org/home/LosAmigos/cicra.htm for more information about the station. Fieldwork will take place around the station and will involve mainly behavioural observations of titi monkeys (Callicebus brunneus) and collection of fecal samples for the diagnosis of intestinal parasites. Volunteers should be prepared to work long hours and under hot weather.

Qualifications/Experience:
I am looking for enthusiastic, hard-working and reliable individuals who possess a strong interest in primates to assist me for a period of one to four months between February and May 2007.

Salary/funding:
Accommodation, transportation and food expenses to the field site must be provided by the volunteer. Volunteers will also have to fund their own travel to Perú.

Support provided for internship/volunteer positions (travel, meals, lodging):
Estimated costs are as follows:
TRANSPORTATION
Roundtrip airfare US to Lima, Peru: $1,000-$2,000
Roundtrip airfare Lima to Puerto Maldonado, Peru: $200
Roundtrip bus fare Puerto Maldonado to Laberinto, Peru: $20
Roundtrip boat fare Laberinto to the Field Station (CICRA): $50-$245

Station Fees at CICRA:
- Room, board, and food: $20/person/day

Application Deadline:
December 10th 2006

Comments:
APPLICATIONS
Applications should include:
- Current CV or resume
- A brief description of yourself including your interest in primates and any relevant experience (i.e. field/laboratory experience, outdoor experience, etc.)

APPLICANTS SHOULD:
- Be enthusiastic and genuinely interested in primates.

Contact Information:
Inés Nole Bazán
Jr. Cornelio Borda 278 dep 202
Lima, NA 01
Peru

Telephone Number:
4251447

E-mail Address:
inesnole@hotmail.com

Male Chimps Prefer Older Females

Males prefer older females, at least in the chimp world, scientists now report.

These findings, reported in the Nov. 21 issue of the journal Current Biology, could shed light on how the more chimp-like ancestors of humans might have behaved, said researcher Martin Muller, a biological anthropologist at Boston University.

Human men often prefer young women. One reason for this, scientists propose, lies in the human proclivity to form unusually long-term mating pairs. When combined with the natural urge to beget as many children as possible, since a woman's fertility is limited by age, men would find young women more sexually attractive.

Chimpanzees, unlike humans, do not form mating partnerships for long, and are instead promiscuous. Moreover, female chimps show no evidence of menopause, which means their fertility is not limited by age. This suggested male chimps might not care about the age of a mate as humans do.

Older is better

To test this prediction, Muller and his colleagues at Harvard investigated chimpanzees [image] at Kibale National Park in Uganda for eight years.

"It takes a lot of effort to find them in the forest and to follow them through a lot of thick vegetation and to try and record all this," Muller recalled.

Surprisingly, the scientists found male chimps preferred older females. Males approached older females more often for sex, and preferred clustering around older females that were in heat. Older females also had sex more frequently with high-ranking males and more regularly triggered male-on-male aggression during mating contests.

"The stereotypical view of human mating involves males wanting to be promiscuous and females being coy, but in chimps you see young females being very interested in mating with all the males, maybe going male to male and presenting their sexual swellings, sometimes grabbing their penis and playing with them, and the males just ignore them," Muller told LiveScience.

By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 20 November 2006
12:01 pm ET

Reasons unclear

It remains uncertain as to why male chimps would prefer older females, as opposed to not caring about age at all.

"Hormonal data collected noninvasively from urine samples suggest older females are more fecund. Perhaps this is a matter of their higher rank— older females tend to be dominant over younger ones, which gives them preferred access to the best foods, so they may be more likely to conceive," Muller said.

In addition, the older females get, the more fit they might show themselves to be against the hardships of life, and thus could lead to equally robust children, which males could find attractive. Alternatively, older females might have accumulated mothering experience, leading to increased infant survivorship. "Or it might be any combination of these, or all of them," Muller said.

To tease out why exactly human men favor young women and chimp males prefer older females, Muller suggested researching what other primate males look for, such as gibbons, who like humans form long-term mating pairs but like chimps do not have menopause.

Fuente: LiveScience

Primate Behavior and Conservation Field Course in Costa Rica

Hiring Organization:
State University of New York, Oneonta and DANTA: Association for Conservation of the Tropics

Date Posted:
2006-11-15

Position Description:
The State University of New York at Oneonta and Danta: Association for Conservation of the Tropics are pleased to announce a Primate Behavior and Conservation Field Course to be held in Costa Rica from June 12, to July 11, 2007. This program is open to people of all academic backgrounds. Participants may enroll on either a credit or non-credit basis. Also, an optional ecotravel experience will be provided for those who wish to stay longer for travel after the course.
The course will be held at El Zota Biological Field Station in North-eastern Costa Rica. The course is designed to provide students with training in primate behavior, ecology and conservation in a field setting. During the first half of the course, students will learn how to (1) collect data on the behavior of free-ranging primates, (2) measure environmental variables, including assessment of resource availability, (3) measure population size, and (4) map the field site. In the second half of the course, in consultation with the instructor, each student carries out an independent research project. Students in the past have investigated such topics as feeding ecology, positional behavior, and habitat use in the mantled howler monkey, white-faced capuchin and black-handed spider monkey. Students will be involved in applied conservation during a 6 day field trip to Puerto Viejo and Punta Mona.

The cost of the course is $1850, and includes all within-country transportation, room and board, and expenses for a 6 day field trip. It does NOT include your international flight, airport taxes ($25), accommodation and meals for the first and last nights in San Jose. The deadline for registration is May 1, 2007. Enrollment is limited to 25 participants.

To learn more about the Primate Behavior and Conservation field course, please visit our website (www.danta.info), or email us at dingeska@oneonta.edu.

Qualifications/Experience:
The course is intended for undergraduates or early graduate level students who are very interested in tropical biology, but have little or no experience of working in a tropical environment.

Application Deadline:
May 1, 2007

Contact Information:
Kimberly Dingess
31 Pine Street
Oneonta, NY 13820
USA

Telephone Number:
607-432-0315

Website:
http://www.danta.info

E-mail Address:
dingeska@oneonta.edu

Exposición "Atapuerca i l'evolució humana" , en Girona

Exposició "Atapuerca i l'evolució humana"
Dirigida per Juan Luis Arsuaga, codirector de l'Equip d'Investigacions d'Atapuerca, la mostra ha estat creada pels investigadors per acostar als ciutadans la realitat d'un dels projectes científics més rellevants del nostre país. Es podrà visitar fins al 21 de gener de 2007, de dilluns a diumenge de 10 a 14 h i de 16 a 20 h.


Horaris:
Tancat els dies: 25,26 i 31 de desembre i l’1 i 6 de gener. També tancat les tardes de 24 de desembre i del 5 de gener.

Tallers:
Els taller es faran els dies 25, 26 de novembre, el 2, 3, 16 i 17 de desembre i el 13 i 14 de gener. Monitors de suport.
Dia 25, taller d’arqueologia de 12 a 13,30 i el de paleontologia, de 18 a 19,30.
Dia 26, taller d’art prehistòric de 12 a 13,30.
Dia 2 i 3, els mateixos horaris del cap de setmana 25 i 26.
Dia 16 i 17, els mateixos horaris del cap de setmana 25 i 26.
Dia 13 i 14, els mateixos horaris del cap de setmana 25 i 26.

Visites guiades:
OBERTES: Les visites es faran cada dia a les 7 de la tarda.
Els dissabtes i festius se’n farà dues : una al matí a les 12 i una al vespre a les 7. (possibilitat d’ampliar a 2 a les tardes).
ESCOLARS: a petició (presumiblement en horari de 10 a 12 o de 15 a 16).

La mostra està organitzada per la Fundació Caixa de Catalunya i Casa de Cultura. Per a més informació: 972.20.20.13

Funding opportunity

Primate Conservation, Incorporated (PCI) is a nonprofit foundation founded to fund field research that supports conservation programs for wild populations of primates. Priority will be given to projects that study, in their natural habitat, the least known and most endangered species. The involvement of citizens from the country in which the primates are found will be a plus. The intent is to provide support for original research that can be used to formulate and to implement conservation plans for the species studied.

PCI will grant seed monies or provide matching grants for graduate students, qualified conservationists, and primatologists to study rare and endangered primates and their conservation in their natural habitat. All appropriate projects will be considered, but the regions of current interest are Asia and West Africa.

http://fundingopps.cos.com/alerts/61631?id=61631&if=alert
http://www.primate.org/grant_in.htm

Ray Hamel
Wisconsin Primate Center Library
Phone: 608-263-3512
hamel@primate.wisc.edu

Not Just Nuts and Berries for These Hominids

By Ann Gibbons
ScienceNOW Daily News
9 November 2006

The robust australopithecines of South Africa are often described as failed humans, having died out 1 million to 1.4 million years ago. Researchers believe their high-fiber, low-nutrient diets might have been too specialized to allow them to cope with a changing environment. A new report in tomorrow's issue of Science challenges this assumption, however, arguing that these close cousins of humans were much more culinarily adventurous than thought.

With their huge molars and massive jaw muscles, australopithecines have been portrayed as nutcrackers who crunched their way through seeds, nuts, and pulpy fruits. As Africa grew cooler and drier, however, these critical fall-back foods were hard to come by, supposedly leading to the hominid's downfall.

To test this theory, a team of American and British researchers studied the teeth of four individuals of Paranthropus robustus (also known as Australopithecus robustus) from the Swartkrans Cave in South Africa. The team scanned the teeth with a sensitive laser, which did not destroy the teeth but etched them lightly enough to free carbon gases long trapped in the enamel. Because different plants absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide differently, the researchers were able to see what types of vegetation the hominids ate based on the ratio of carbon isotopes in their teeth.

Their cuisine included a mix of tropical grasses and sedges, along with woody fruits, shrubs, and herbs, according to the findings. What's more, carbon samples from ridges laid down like tree rings in a single tooth revealed that the hominids switched between these diverse plants, depending on the time of year. The pattern held, regardless of when the hominids lived. Although the specimens date back to about 1.8 million years ago, each individual's lifetime was probably separated by thousands or tens of thousands of years, indicating that Paranthropus robustus was quite capable of dealing with changes in climate or different habitats. "We didn't expect to see as much variability as we found," says lead author Matt Sponheimer of University of Colorado at Boulder. "It was quite a surprise."

The new method is a huge improvement over old isotopic studies that required anthropologists to drill--and destroy--teeth to sample carbon, like prehistoric dentists, says paleoanthropologist Fred Grine of the Stony Brook University in New York. "Sponheimer's taken the analysis of carbon isotopes in fossils to a new level of sophistication," he says, adding that he hopes that fossil teeth--and diets--of earlier hominids can also be studied with the new nondestructive method.

Fuente: Science: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1109/1?etoc

XXXth International Ethological Conference

The XXXth International Ethological Conference will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada from 15-23 August 2007. The web page for the conference is http://iec2007.psychology.dal.ca/ . I attended the conference in August of 2005 in Budapest, Hungary and it was quite good. In 2007, there appears to be a number of Plenary talks that are directly applicable to at least aspects of Evolutionary Psychology. I'm tentatively planning to go. It is quite a large, international meeting with people from many countries attending.

The list of Plenary Speaker to date are as follows:

CURRENT LIST OF PLENARY SPEAKERS:

Opening Public lecture

Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University, Canada.
"Adventures of a marine mammalogist in the study of whale language
and culture"

Plenary lectures (tentative titles)

1. Patrick Bateson, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge,
England
"Developmental Plasticity and Epigenetics"

.

2. Pat Monaghan, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
"Growth, lifespan and life history trade-offs"

3. Elisabetta Visalberghi, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della
Cognizione, Rome, Italy
"Behavioral, cognitive and ecological factors affecting tool use in
wild capuchin monkeys"

4. Atsushi Iriki, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan.
"Brain mechanism for development and evolution of monkey tool-use as
a latent precursor of human intelligence"

5. Roger T. Hanlon, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA
"Masters of optical illusion: the neuroethology of rapid adaptive
camouflage and communication in cephalopods"

6. Horst Bleckmann, Institut für Zoologie der Universität Bonn, Germany.
"Neuroethology of Sensory Systems"

7. Rui Oliveira, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa,
Portugal
"From hormones to behaviour and back: androgens, social context and
competition".

8. Hanna Kokko, University of Helsinki, Finland
"Love and hatred in a world of feedback"

9. Sara J. Shettleworth, University of Toronto, Canada
"How do animals know what they know?"

10. Marian Stamp Dawkins, Department of Zoology, University of
Oxford, England
"The scientific basis for assessing suffering in animals"

11. Robert L. Trivers, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers
University,USA
"Human Ethology / Genes in conflict: The Biology of Selfish Genetic
Elements"

Regards,
Jay R. Feierman