Charles L Nunn, Gosnell Family Professor in 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.

Office Location:	106 Biological Sciences Building
Office Phone:	+1 919 660 7281
Email Address:
Web Pages:	https://tricem.org/ https://sites.duke.edu/thenunnlab/

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 • Muser Mentor • 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

Current Ph.D. 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 (search)

Dubrulle, J; Kauffman, K; Soarimalala, V; Randriamoria, T; Goodman, SM; Herrera, J; Nunn, C; Tortosa, P, Effect of habitat degradation on hantavirus infection among introduced and endemic small mammals of Madagascar., bioRxiv (December, 2023) [doi] [abs]
Werner, CS; Kasan, K; Geyer, JK; Elmasri, M; Farrell, MJ; Nunn, CL, Using phylogeographic link-prediction in primates to prioritize human parasite screening., American journal of biological anthropology, vol. 182 no. 4 (December, 2023), pp. 583-594, WILEY [doi] [abs]
Evans, MV; Ramiadantsoa, T; Kauffman, K; Moody, J; Nunn, CL; Rabezara, JY; Raharimalala, P; Randriamoria, TM; Soarimalala, V; Titcomb, G; Garchitorena, A; Roche, B, Sociodemographic Variables Can Guide Prioritized Testing Strategies for Epidemic Control in Resource-Limited Contexts., The Journal of infectious diseases, vol. 228 no. 9 (November, 2023), pp. 1189-1197 [doi] [abs]
Creighton, MJA; Nunn, CL, Explaining the primate extinction crisis: predictors of extinction risk and active threats., Proceedings. Biological sciences, vol. 290 no. 2006 (September, 2023), pp. 20231441 [doi] [abs]
Herrera, JP; Moody, J; Nunn, CL, Predicting primate-parasite associations using exponential random graph models., The Journal of animal ecology, vol. 92 no. 3 (March, 2023), pp. 710-722 [doi] [abs]