Prof Phyllis Lee
Professor, Behavioural and Evolution Research Group, PsychologyUniversity of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland, UK + 44 (0) 1786 467656
phyllis.lee@stir.ac.uk
Research interests:
Physical growth, cognitive and social development in mammals
Primate and mammalian behavioural ecology and reproductive strategies
Mammalian life history evolution, longevity, ageing and demography
Biodiversity conservation, human-animal interaction and sustainable development: effects of gender and human attitudes on conservation success
Current research projects:
Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, Amboseli Trust for Elephants: www.elephanttrust.org
Life history and longevity in elephants (with C. Moss, Amboseli Elephant Research Project, Kenya & J. Poole, Elephant Voices)
Collaborative five year project using non-invasive methods to assess reproductive strategies and maturation in captive baboons with Dr L. Rosetta (CNRS, Paris)
Longitudinal effects of early experiences on elephant life histories (with Lizzie Webber, RA, Stirling)
Research affiliations:
Consultant on Darwin Projects; a) Human-elephant conflict mitigation in Likipia, Kenya (with Max Graham and Bill Adams, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge). b) Elephant conservation and capacity building in Mikumi National Park Tanzania – Collaborator with the Animal Behaviour Research Unit, Mikumi National Park and Anglia Polytechnic University (G. Norton & D. Hawkins)
Collaborator with Associacão Pró-Muriqui – research, education and biodiversity conservation, São Paulo State, Brazil.
Affiliations with external institutions:
President (1998 - 2002) Primate Society of Great Britain
Consulting member: Species Survival Commission (IUCN), Primate Specialist Group, consulting member, Conservation Working Party PSGB (1995 - 2001)
Council member: Cambridge Conservation Forum (1999-2005)
Consulting Editor: Folia Primatologica, Primates
Member of Scottish Primate Research Group.
Co-ordinating committee for International Primatological Society 2008 XXII Congress (Edinburgh)
Electives on Animal Play, Comparative Mammalian Development, Sex or Gender; final year project supervision; lectures in Animal Behaviour and the MSc in Psychological Research Methods / Behaviour and Evolution
Graduate Mentoring
7 PhD projects in progress (2 first year, 3-2nd year, 2-3rd year - Psychology - Current-Postgraduates)
19 PhDs completed, 27 MPhils / MSc completed
Recent PhD theses
R. Coles 2009. Fission-fusion sociality in southern muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides) in the continuous Atlantic forest of Brazil. (Cambridge)
A. Daspre 2009. Reproductive hormones and sexual signalling in captive baboons (with Dr L. Rosetta, CNRS - France)
K. Nowak 2007. Behavioural flexibility and demography of Procolobus kirkii across floristic and disturbance gradients. (Cambridge)
D. Morgan 2007: Soci-ecology of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in the Goualougo Trainge, Republic of Congo. (Cambridge)
C. Garcia 2005: Énergétique et régulation de la function de reproduction chez des femelles captives babouins olive (Papio anubis). (Joint Supervision with Dr L. Rosetta, CNRS, Paris; Université de la Méditerranée – Aix-Marseille II)
S. OHara 2005: Female sexuality and male violence in wild chimpanzees (Cambridge)
N. Priston 2005: An assessment of crop-raiding by Macaca ochreata brunnescens in Buton, Southeast Sulawesi: farmers' perceptions, reality and the impact of primate behaviour and conservation.(Cambridge)
M. Talebi-Gomes 2005: Feeding ecology, nutrition and energetics of muriquis in the Atlantic forests of Brazil. (Cambridge)
Priston, N.E.C., Wyper, R.M. & Lee, P.C. (in press). Buton macaques (Macaca ochreata brunnescens): Crops, conflict and behaviour on farms. American Journal of Primatology.
Lee, P.C. (in press). Growth and investment in hominin life history evolution: patterns, processes and outcomes. International Journal of Primatology.
Lee, P.C. & Moss, C.J. (in press). Wild female African elephants (Loxodonta africana) exhibit personality traits of leadership and social integration. Journal of Comparative Psychology.
Coles, R.C., Lee, P.C. & Talebi, M. (in press) Fission–fusion dynamics in southern muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides) in continuous Brazilian Atlantic Forest. International Journal of Primatology.
Chiyo, P.I., Archie, E.A., Hollister-Smith, J.A., Lee, P.C., Poole, J.H., Moss, C.J. & Alberts, S.C. (in press). Association patterns of African elephants in all-male groups: the role of age and genetic relatedness. Animal Behaviour.
Chiyo, P.I., Lee, P.C., Moss, C.J., Archie, E.A, Hollister-Smith, J.A. & Alberts, S.C. (in press). No risk, no gain: effects of crop-raiding and genetic diversity on body size in male elephants. Behavioral Ecology.
Graham, M.D., Notter, B., Adams, W.M., Lee, P.C. & Ochieng, T.N. (in press). Patterns of crop-raiding by elephants, Loxodonta africana, in Laikipia, Kenya, and the management of human-elephant conflict. Systematics and Biodiversity, 9(1).
Newton-Fisher, N.F. & Lee, P.C. (in press). Grooming reciprocity in wild male chimpanzees. Animal Behaviour.
Webber, C.E., Sereivathana, T., Maltby, M. & Lee, P.C. (2011). Elephant crop-raiding and human-elephant conflict in Cambodia. Oryx, 45: 243-251.
Nowak, K. and Lee, P.C. (2011) Demographic structure of Zanzibar red colobus populations in unprotected coral rag and mangrove forests. International Journal of Primatology 32: 24-45. (
Rosetta, L. Lee, P.C. & Garcia, C. (2011). Energetics during reproduction: a doubly labeled water study of lactating baboons. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 144:661–668.
Klailova, M., Hodgkinson, C. & Lee, P.C. (2010). Behavioral responses of one western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) group at Bai Hokou, Central African Republic, to tourists, researchers and trackers. American Journal of Primatology 72: 897-906.
Lee, P.C. (2010). Sharing space: can ethnoprimatology contribute to the survival of non-human primates in human-dominated globalized landscapes? American Journal of Primatology 71: 925-931.
Mondragón-Ceballos, R., Chiappa, P., Mayagoitia, L. & Lee, P. (2010). Sex differences in learning the allocation of social grooming in infant stumptailed macaques. Behaviour. 147: 1073-1099.
Talebi, M.G. & Lee, P.C. (2010) Activity patterns of Brachyteles arachnoides in the largest remaining fragment of Brazilian Atlantic Forest. International Journal of Primatology 31: 571-583.
Bates, L.A., Hanford, R., Lee, P.C., Njiraini, N., Poole, J.H., Sayialel, K., Sayialel, S, Moss, C.J. & Byrne, R. (2010). Why do African elephants (Loxodonta africana) simulate oestrus? An analysis of longitudinal data. PLOS One 5: e10052.
Moura, A.C.de A. & Lee, P.C. (2010). Wild capuchins show male biased feeding tool use. International Journal of Primatology 31:457–470.
Nowak, K., Jones, T. & Lee, P.C. (2010). Using dung bolus diameter for age estimation in an unstudied elephant population in Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania. Pachyderm 46: 47-53.
Wasser, S., Poole, J., Lee, P., Lindsay, K., Dobson, A., Hart, J., Douglas-Hamilton, I., Wittemyer, G., Granli, P., Morgan, B., Gunn, J., Alberts, S., Byers, R., Chiyo, P., Croze, H., Estes, R., Gobush, K., Jorma, P., Kikoti, A., Kingdon, J., King, L., Macdonald, D., Moss, C., Mutayoda, B., Njumbi, S., Omondi, P., Nowak, K. (2010). Elephants, ivory and trade. Science, 327: 1331-1332.
Garcia, C. Lee, P.C. & Rosetta, L. (2009) Growth in colony living anubis baboon infants and its relationship with maternal energetics and reproductive status. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138: 123-134.
Graham, M.D., Douglas-Hamilton, I., Adams, W.A., & Lee, P.C. (2009) The movement of African elephants in a human dominated land use mosaic. Animal Conservation 12: 445-455.
Talebi, M.G., Beltrão-Mendes, R. & Lee, P.C. (2009) Intra-community coalitionary lethal attack of an adult male southern muriqui (Brachyteles arachnoides). American Journal of Primatology. 71(10): 860-867.
Clubb, R., Rowcliffe, M., Lee, P., Mar, K.U., Moss, C. & Mason, G.J. (2009). Fecundity, survivorship, fatness and stress: why are zoo elephant populations not self-sustaining. Animal Welfare 18: 237 - 242.
Daspre, A., Heistermann, M., Hodges, J. K., Lee, P. C., and Rosetta, L. (2009) Signals of female reproductive quality and fertility in colony-living baboons (Papio h. anubis) in relation to ensuring paternal investment. American Journal of Primatology, 71: 529 - 538.
Clubb, R., Rowcliffe, M., Lee, P., Mar, K.U., Moss, C. & Mason, G.J. (2008). Compromised survivorship in zoo elephants. Science 322(5908): 1649.
Fishlock, V., Lee, P.C. & Breuer, T. (2008) Quantifying forest elephant social structure in Central African bai environments. Pachyderm 44. 19-28.
Bates, L.A., Lee, P.C., Njiraini, N., Poole, J.H., Sayialel, K., Sayialel, S., Moss, C.J. & Byrne, R.W. (2008) Do elephants show empathy? Journal of Consciousness Studies 15: 204-225.
Aureli, F., Schaffner, C.M., Boesch, C., Bearder, S., Call, J., Chapman, C.A., Connor, R., Di Fiore, A., Dunbar, R.I.M., Henzi, P.S, Holekamp, K, Korstjens, A.H., Layton, R., Lee, P, Lehmann, J.,Manson, J.H, Ramos-Fernandez, G., Strier, K. & van Schaik, C.P. (2008). Fission-fusion dynamics: new research directions. Current Anthropology 49: 627-654.
Ferreira, R.G., Izar, P. & Lee, P.C. (2008) Food Competition in a semifree-ranging Cebus apella group. Folia primatologica 79: 463-475.
Garcia, C., Lee, P.C. & Rosetta, L. (2008) Impact of social environment on variation in menstrual cycle length in captive female olive baboons (Papio anubis). Reproduction 135:89-97.
Casanova, C., Mondragon-Ceballos, R. & Lee, P.C. (2008) Innovative social behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): evidence for agonistic buffering by alpha males. American Journal of Primatology 70: 54-61
Mendes-Pontes, A., Chivers, D.J. & Lee, P.C. (2007) Effects of biomass on assemblages of large mammals in a seasonally dry forest in the Brazilian Amazon. Journal of Zoology 271: 278-287.
Archie E.A., J. A. Hollister-Smith, J. H. Poole, P. C. Lee, C. J . Moss, J. E. Maldonado, R. C. Fleischer & S. C. Alberts (2007) Behavioural inbreeding avoidance in wild African elephants. Molecular Ecology
Morgan, B.J. & Lee, P.C. (2007) Forest elephant group composition, frugivory and coastal use in the Réserve de Faune du Petit Loango, Gabon. African Journal of Ecology.
O'Hara, S. & Lee, P.C. (2007) High frequency of post-coital penis cleaning in Budongo chimpanzees. Folia primatologica 77:353-358.
Ferreira, R.G., Izar, P. & Lee, P.C. (2006) Exchange, affiliation and protective interventions in semifree-ranging brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). American Journal of Primatology.
Garcia, C., Lee, P.C. & Rosetta, L. (2006) Dominance and reproductive rates in captive female olive baboons, Papio anubis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Lee, P.C. & Graham, M.D. (2006) African elephants (Loxodonta africana) and human – elephant interactions: implications for conservation. International Zoo Yearbook.
Shrader, A.m., Ferreira, S.M., McElveen, M.E., Lee, P.C., Moss, C.J. & van Aarde R.J. (2006) Structural growth and age determination of savanna elephants. Journal of Zoology, Lond Shrader et al J Zool
Books & Book Chapters
Moss, CJ., Croze, H. & Lee, P.C. (in press) The Amboseli Elephants: a long-term perspective on a long-lived species. University of Chicago Press.
Lee, P.C. (Editor) (1999) Comparative Primate Socioecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Lee, P.C., Thornback, J. & Bennett, E.J. (1989) Threatened Primates of Africa: The IUCN Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland Switzerland.
Lee, P.C. (2009) Evolution and ecological diversity in animal mating and parenting systems. In Ellison, P. and Grey, P. (Editors) Endocrinology of Social Relationships. Cambridge MA: University of Harvard Press.
Lee, P.C. & Moss, C.J. (2009). Welfare and well-being of captive elephants: Perspectives from wild elephant life histories. In: P. Waldau, L. Kane and D. Forthman (editors) Welfare of Captive Elephants. Tufts University Press, MA.
Lee, P.C. & Priston, N.J. (2005) Human attitudes to primates: Perceptions of pests, conflict and consequences for primate conservation. In: Patterson, J.D. & Wallace, J. (Editors). Primate – Human Interaction and Conservation. American Society of Primatologists Publications, Alberta.
Older Elephant Papers
Lee, P.C. (1987) Allomothering in African elephants. Animal Behaviour 35: 278-291
Lee, P.C. (1986) Early social development in African elephants. National Geographic Research 2: 394-401.
Lee, P.C. & Moss, C.J. (1986) Early maternal investment in male and female African elephant calves.
Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 18: 353-361.