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Judith Janisch

Postdoc

Department of Human Origins
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

e-mail: judith_janisch@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de

Research Interests
Curriculum vitae
Awards
Grants
Publications

Research Interests

Judith’s research focuses on using cutting-edge tools to study the evolution of biomechanical and behavioural adaptations to the arboreal environment of wild animals. She investigated female choice on the complex courtship display of golden-collared manakins in Panama using a fully automated 3D motion capture system as well as developed a protocol to record arboreal locomotion of primates in Uganda and Madagascar in three dimensions. Her current project at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology will focus on studying the influence of the arboreal and terrestrial environment on chimpanzee locomotion in to 2D and 3D in the Issa Valley in western Tanzania to test hypothesis on human origins.

Curriculum vitae

Career & Education

Aug 2024-present Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Department of Human Origins, 
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 
Germany
Aug 2021-Jan 2024Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology,
Northeast Ohio Medical University, Ohio, United States
Nov 2016-Sept 2021Ph.D. candidate, Department of Life Sciences, University of Veterinary 
Medicine of Vienna, Austria.
2006-2013“Magistra der Naturwissenschaften” (equivalent to Master of Science), 
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Austria

 

Research experience and field work 

June-August 2022Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar to record gait
kinematics and leaping in 2D and 3D of 7 different species of lemurs
January-March 2022Kibale National Park, Uganda to collect video recordings and 
substrate parameters to investigate gait kinematics in 8 different species of 
primates as well as leaping performance in 3D
January-Mai 2018Gamboa, Panama to collect video recordings of the 
courtship displays of golden-collared manakins
July 2017Research stay in Neuchatel, Switzerland to learn how to take sperm 
samples in Passerines
January-April 2017Gamboa, Panama to collect video recordings of the courtship 
displays of golden-collared manakins, blood samples and physical measurements 
June-August 2016Population survey on Crocodylus moreletii with Indigo Expeditions in Laguna del Tigre, Guatemala and assessment of water pollution
Sept-Nov 2015Research Assistant in Sahamalaza National Park, Madagascar to collect data in behavioural ecology (habitat use, vegetation assessment, observational data, telemetry) and social behaviour of the nocturnal sportive lemur (Lepilemur sahamalazensis) as well as conducting playback experiments
March-June 2013Research Assistant in Florida, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Zoological Park, Florida, US to collect data in bioacoustics, behavioural ecology and investigating vocal tract physiology of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) and Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
Dec 2012Field work in Austria and Germany to carry out playback experiments and sound recordings of common ravens (Corvus corax) 
April-Jul 2012Data collection on spatial navigation in tortoises for Diploma thesis at “The Parrot Zoo” in Friskney, UK

Awards

IgNobel Prize 2020 - Reber, S. A., Nishimura, T., Janisch, J., Robertson, M., & Fitch, W. T. (2015). A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 218(15), 2442-2447. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.119552

Grants

Marietta Blau Grant (2020) - Austrian Ministry for Science, Research and Economics BMWFW, Centre for International Cooperation and Mobility OeAD (19200€)

“Förderung von wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten im Ausland für NachwuchswissenschafterInnen” - Short-term grant for going abroad from the bureau of International Relationships of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (800€) 

KWA (Kurzwissenschaftliches Arbeiten im Ausland) – Short-term grant abroad from the bureau of International Relationships of the University of Vienna (2700€) 

Scholarship for ERASMUS term from the state of Burgenland, Austria (800€)

Publications

2024

Janisch J, McNamara A, Myers LC, Schapker N, Dunham NT, Phelps T, Mundry R, Hieronymus T, Shapiro LJ, Young JW (2024). Ecological and phylogenetic influences on limb joint kinematics in wild primates. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
DOI

Schapker N, Janisch J, Myers LC, Phelps T, Shapiro LJ, Young JW (2024). From such great heights: The effects of substrate height and the perception of risk on lemur locomotor mechanics. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, e24917.
DOI

Janisch J, Myers LC, Schapker N, Kirven J, Shapiro LJ, Young JW (2024). Pump and sway: wild primates use compliant supports as a tool to augment leaping in the canopy. American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
DOI

Janisch J, Kirven J, Schapker N, Myers LC, Shapiro LJ, Young JW (2024). Protocol to record and analyze primate leaping in 3D in the wild. Journal of Experimental Zoology

2021

Janisch J, Mitoyen C, Perinot E, Spezie G, Fusani L, Quigley C (2021). Video Recording and Analysis of Avian Movements and Behavior: Insights from Courtship Case Studies. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 61(4), 1378-1393.
DOI

Janisch J, Perinot E, Fusani L, Quigley C (2021). Deciphering choreographies of elaborate courtship displays of golden-collared manakins using markerless motion capture. Ethology, 127(7), 550-562.
DOI

Reber SA, OH J, Janisch J, Stevenson C, Foggett S, Wilkinson A (2021). Early life differences in behavioral predispositions in two Alligatoridae species. Animal Cognition, 24, 753-764.
DOI

2020

Janisch J, Perinot E, Fusani L (2020) Behavioural flexibility in the courtship dance of golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus). Animal Behaviour, 166, 61-71.
DOI

2017

Reber SA, Janisch J, Torregrosa K, Darlington J, Vliet KA, Fitch WT (2017). Formants in bellows act as honest acoustic cues in American alligators. Scientific reports, 7(1), 1816.
DOI

2016

Reber SA, Boeckle M, Szipl G, Janisch J, Bugnyar T, Fitch WT. (2016) Territorial raven pairs are sensitive to structural changes in simulated acoustic displays of conspecifics. Animal Behaviour, 116, 153-162.
DOI

2015

Reber SA, Nishimura T, Janisch J, Robertson M, Fitch WT (2015) A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 218(15), 2442-2447.
DOI