Charles L Nunn, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Research Professor of Global Health

My research addresses a range of questions in primate evolutionary ecology, with major research areas involving infectious disease, primate behavior, the evolution of sleep, and cultural trait dynamics. These research foci are rooted in a comparative perspective that examines variation across species on an evolutionary tree. I am especially passionate about my research on infectious disease; this area plays center stage in my research and teaching, and in my expanding field research. In addition to addressing questions of basic science, I apply ecological and evolutionary perspectives to address practical questions in the conservation of biodiversity and human health.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	106 Biological Sciences Building
Office Phone:	(919) 660-7281
Email Address:
Web Pages:	http://people.nunn-lab.org/charlie/ http://nunn-lab.org

Teaching (Fall 2019):

• EVANTH 585.01, BAYESIAN MODEL FITTING Synopsis

  Physics 227, MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

Education:

Ph.D.	Duke University	1999
Post-Baccalaureate	University of Washington	1992
A.B.	Dartmouth College	1991

Specialties:

Behavioral Ecology and Physiology
Primate Ecology
Primate Biology

Keywords:

Allometry • Amygdala • Analysis of Variance • Animals • Artifacts • Behavioral Research • Biological Evolution • Biometry • Body Constitution • Brain • Brain Mapping • Classification • Cognition • Communication • Comparative Study • Computer Simulation • Cooperation • Data Collection • Diet • Energy Metabolism • Female • Food Chain • Hippocampus • Homing Behavior • Hominidae • Host-Parasite Interactions • Lemur • Male • Mammals • Maternal Age • Maternal Behavior • Memory • Models, Biological • Neocortex • Organ Size • Parasitism • Phylogeny • Predatory Behavior • Primates • Psychology, Comparative • Regression Analysis • Reproducibility of Results • Sexual selection • Sleep • Sleep, REM • Social Behavior • Software • Space Perception • Species Specificity • Statistics as Topic • Territoriality • Time Perception • Vocalization, Animal

Curriculum Vitae  Bio

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

• Chase Nunez  
• Caroline Rusk Amoro  
• Randi Griffin  
• India A Schneider-Crease  
• Collin McCabe  

Postdocs Mentored

• Debapriyo Chakraborty (October 15, 2015 - present)  
• David Samson (July, 2014 - present)  

Recent Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. Miller, IF; Churchill, SE; Nunn, CL, Speeding in the slow lane: Phylogenetic comparative analyses reveal that not all human life history traits are exceptional., Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 130 (May, 2019), pp. 36-44 [doi]  [abs]
2. Herrera, JP; Nunn, CL, Coevolution and coextinction of primates and their parasites, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 168 (March, 2019), pp. 102-102, WILEY
3. Amoroso, CR; Kappeler, PM; Fichtel, C; Nunn, CL, Water availability, primate ranging behavior, and implications for parasite transmission: an experimental and observational study of wild red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) in a dry deciduous forest, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 168 (March, 2019), pp. 6-6, WILEY
4. Kappeler, PM; Nunn, CL; Vining, AQ; Goodman, SM, Evolutionary dynamics of sexual size dimorphism in non-volant mammals following their independent colonization of Madagascar., Scientific Reports, vol. 9 no. 1 (February, 2019), pp. 1454 [doi]  [abs]
5. Miller, IF; Barton, RA; Nunn, CL, Quantitative uniqueness of human brain evolution revealed through phylogenetic comparative analysis., Elife, vol. 8 (January, 2019) [doi]  [abs]