Josephine Head

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Primatology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

phone: +49 341 3550 242
e-mail: head[>>> Please replace the brackets with an AT sign <<<]eva.mpg.de

 

Current Research

Examining dietary overlap of sympatric species is useful for improving our understanding of species distribution and abundance, community ecology, and the processes of speciation and adaptive radiation.  Most species that occur sympatrically and exploit similar foods are assumed to have evolved species-specific ecological adaptations that decrease interspecies competition and make co-existence possible.

I am studying variation in food availability and simultaneously collecting data on the dietary composition and patterns of habitat utilisation of central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Loango National Park, Gabon. I am also using remote video camera traps to estimate the abundance of chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants in Loango, and to investigate the presence of feeding competition and niche separation between these three species.