Parasites and disease can act as strong selective forces in primate evolution by inflicting substantial costs on reproduction and survival. Geladas are infected by a multitude of parasites, including the larval stage of the tapeworm Taenia serialis (a major driver of death for female geladas; Schneider-Crease et al. 2017) and a number of gastrointestinal helminths. Our ongoing research harnesses genomic and immunological tools to understand how the social environment during infancy shapes susceptibility and disease. We examine the roles of social relationships, trauma, and anthropogenic habitat change in immunological development and lifetime health outcomes, and use these findings as a foundation from which to understand variation in susceptibility and disease in humans.
- Social correlates of androgen levels and dispersal age in juvenile male geladas
- Urinary neopterin reflects immunological variation associated with age, helminth parasitism, and the microbiome in a wild primate
- A novel statovirus identified in fecal samples from wild geladas in the Ethiopian highlands
- Seasonal shifts in the gut microbiome indicate plastic responses to diet in wild geladas
- Low rank and primiparity increase fecal glucocorticoid metabolites across gestation in wild geladas
- Ecology eclipses phylogeny as a major driver of nematode parasite community structure in a graminivorous primate
- High mortality associated with tapeworm parasitism in geladas (Theropithecus gelada) in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia
- Identifying wildlife reservoirs of neglected taeniid tapeworms: Non-invasive diagnosis of endemic Taenia serialis infection in a wild primate population
- Molecular identification of Taenia serialis coenurosis in a wild Ethiopian gelada (Theropithecus gelada)