IMPRS Board Members

I am a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary anthropologist interested in the evolution of social complexity. In my research, I combine observational methods and field-based experiments with emerging remote sensing technology, to reveal how group-living animals overcome conflicts of interest to achieve shared goals. I am particularly interested in how group-level traits emerge and the ways in which they shape the collective ecology of animals’ societies. 

• Collective movement • Decision-making • Intergroup competition • Animal culture • Tool use • Social Foraging

I am a behavioural ecologist and evolutionary anthropologist, interested in bonobo social behaviour, their ecological constraints, their role within the ecosystem, and their life history. One of my foci is their food repertoire ranging from items ingested for nutritional to those used for medicinal purpose. For this, I follow an interdisciplinary approach integrating herbaria, analyses of plant’s phytochemical and pharmacological properties, and their effect on growth, health and fitness of individual bonobos.

• Nutritional Ecology • Conservation • Life history • Community Ecology • Bonobos

I’m interested in sensory ecology and how it mediates animal behavior. Using behavioral data from flower foraging insects, I study how visual mechanisms and experiences shape visual preferences during plant-pollinator interactions.