Patrick Lauer
Doctoral student
Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig
phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 346
e-mail:
patrick_lauer@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Research Interests
Education
Research Experience
Public Outreach
Grants and Scholarships
Research Interests
I am interested in phenotypic plasticity, adaptability to changing environments, and the limits of inference. I seek to understand why we observe certain, potentially maladaptive, behavioral patterns and the extent to which we can learn about them. With a background in animal behavior and behavioral ecology, I am now exploring these questions in highly cultural animals, such as humans. For my PhD, I joined the Theory in Cultural Evolution Lab, supervised by Dr. Anne Kandler and Dr. Laurel Fogarty. I will build simulation models to investigate the dynamics and effects of cultural linkage.
Education
| 2024-present | PhD Candidate, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany |
| 2020-2023 | Master Biological Sciences (Priority Track: Ecology, Evolution and Behavior), University of Konstanz, Germany |
| 2017-2020 | Bachelor Biological Sciences, University of Konstanz, Germany |
Research Experience
| Mai 2023-Dec 2023 & Sep 2021-Aug 2022 | Research Assistant Max-Planck-Institute of Animal Behavior & University of Konstanz, Germany Supervisor: Dr. Urs Kalbitzer Project: Behavior, ecology and nutrition of red colobus monkeys |
| Aug 2022-Apr 2023 | Master’s Thesis Max-Planck-Institute of Animal Behavior & University of Konstanz, Germany Supervisors: Dr. Urs Kalbitzer, Prof. Dr. Meg Crofoot Project: Theoretical evaluation and application of food preference indices with long-term data of leaf-eating red colobus |
| Jun-Oct 2020 | Bachelor’s Thesis + Research Assistant Max-Planck-Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany Supervisors: Dr. Hanja Brandl, Prof. Dr. Damien Farine Project: Tracking of stress responses in social groups of zebra finches |
Public Outreach
| Mar 2024 | Presentation, Gesellschaft für Primatologie (GfP) Conference, Konstanz Title: Long-term food choices and nutritional goals of a leaf-eating primate |
| Aug 2023 | Presentation, Behaviour 2023, Bielefeld Title: Theoretical evaluation and application of food preference indices with long-term data of leaf-eating red colobus |
Grants and Scholarships
German academic exchange service (DAAD), PROMOS, 2022
Grant to conduct fieldwork in Uganda for master’s thesis (2,200 EUR)
Gesellschaft für Primatologie, Christian-Vogel-Fond für Freilandforschung, 2022
Grant to conduct fieldwork in Uganda for master’s thesis (~800 EUR)