Home » People » Faculty/Experts »  Leslie J. Digby

Leslie J. Digby, Assistant Research Professor, Biological Anthropology & Anatomy

Contact Info:

08A Bio Sci Building

(919) 660-7398

ldigby@duke.edu

Education:

• PhD, University of California, Davis, 1994
• M.A., University of California, Davis, 1988
• BA, University of California, San Diego, 1986

Research Interests: Evolution of Primate and Human Social Behavior; Primate Behavioral Ecology; Mammalian Reproductive Strategies, Mating Systems and Infanticide; Reproductive Competition in Female Lemurs; Marmoset and Tamarin Social Organization and Reproductive Strategies

Current projects: Reproductive Competition and Infanticide in Cooperatively Breeding Primates, Methods for Mapping Primate Home Ranges, Quantifying Habituation in Captive Lemurs, Comparative Cognition in Lemurs

My research centers on the evolution primate social behavior, especially how reproductive competition among females can shape social organization. My recent research has investigated the impact of infanticide (or the threat on infanticide) on the evolution of cooperative breeding systems (species focus: marmosets and tamarins) and how female competition in female dominant species may influence reproductive opportunities and success (species focus: blue-eyed black, bamboo and ringtailed lemurs). I am also involved in several methods-oriented projects, including new methods for documenting primate home ranges and the quantification of levels of habituation in captive lemurs.

Curriculum Vitae
Teaching (Fall 2009):

• EVANTH 144L.01, Primate Field Biology Synopsis

  Primate 001, TuTh 08:30 AM-09:45 AM

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. Saltzman, W, Digby, L.J. and Abbott, D.H.. "Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: what can proximate mechanisms tell us about ultimate causes?." Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2008). (Published on-line Oct 2008)  [abs]
2. L.J. Digby, S.F. Ferrari, W. Saltzman. "Callitrichines: the role of competition in cooperatively breeding species.." Primates in Perspective. Ed. K.C. MacKinnon, M. Panger, S. Bearder, C. Campbell, and A. Fuentes. Oxford University Press, 2007
3. L. Digby and W. Saltzman. "Balancing cooperation and competition in callitrichine primates: examining the relative risk of infanticide across species." Smallest Anthropoids. Ed. L. Porter, L. Davis, and S. Ford. Springer Verlag, 2008  [abs]
4. L.J. Digby, A. Stevens. "Maintance of Female Dominance in Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs (Eulemur macaco flavifrons) and Gray Bamboo Lemurs (Hapalemur griseus) under semi-free ranging and captive conditions." Zoo Biology 26.5 (September, 2007): 345-361.
5. L.J. Digby. "Infanticide by female mammals: implications for the evolution of social systems." Infanticide by Males and its Implications. Ed. C. van Schaik and C. Janson. Cambridge University Press, 2000
6. L.J. Digby, S. Kahlenberg. "Female dominance in blue-eyed black lemurs (Eulemur macaco flavifrons." Primates 43.4 (2002): 191-200.
7. L.J. Digby. "Infant care, infanticide, and female reproductive strategies in polygynous groups of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 37 (1995): 51-61.
8. Digby, L.J. and S.F. Ferrari. "Multiple breeding females in free-ranging groups of Callithrix jacchus." . International Journal of Primatology 15.3 (1994): 389-397.
9. C. Nievergelt, L.J. Digby, U. Ramakrishnan, and D.S. Woodruff. "Genetic analysis of group composition and breeding system in a wild common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) population." International Journal of Primatology 21.1 (2000): 1-20.
10. L.J. Digby. "Sexual behavior and extra-group copulations in a wild population of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)." Folia Primatologica 70.3 (1999): 136-145.