Research Interests for Leslie J. Digby

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 have also just begun a study of how to improve methods for documenting primate home ranges.

Keywords:

primate behavior, reproductive competition, female competition, infanticide, marmosets, lemurs

Current projects:

Reproductive Competition and Infanticide in Cooperatively Breeding Primates

Female Dominance and Reproductive Competition in Lemurs

Mapping of Primate Home Ranges

The Impact of Social Interactions on Alliances in Lemurs

The Impact of Aging on Social Interactions

Areas of Interest:

Evolution of Primate Social Systems
Evolution of Female Reproductive Competition
Primae Behavioral Ecology
Mammalian Mating Systems
Callitrichines
Lemurids

Representative Publications

1. Saltzman, W; Digby, LJ; Abbott, DH, Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: what can proximate mechanisms tell us about ultimate causes?, Proceedings. Biological sciences, vol. 276 no. 1656 (February, 2009), pp. 389-399, ISSN 0962-8452 (Published on-line Oct 2008.) [doi] [abs]
2. L.J. Digby, S.F. Ferrari, W. Saltzman, Callitrichines: the role of competition in cooperatively breeding species., in Primates in Perspective, edited by K.C. MacKinnon, M. Panger, S. Bearder, C. Campbell, and A. Fuentes (2007), Oxford University Press
3. L. Digby and W. Saltzman, Balancing cooperation and competition in callitrichid primates: examining the relative risk of infanticide across species, in The Smallest Anthropoids: The Marmoset/Callimico Radiation, edited by SM Ford, LM Porter and LC Davis (November, 2009), Springer Verlag, ISBN 978-1-4419-0292-4 [abs]
4. Abbott, D.H., Digby, L.J. and Saltzman, W., Reproductive skew in female common marmosets: contributions of infanticide and subordinate self restraint., in Reproductive Skew in Vertebrates: Proximate and Ultimate Causes, edited by Hagar, R. and Jones, C. (September, 2009), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-86409-1
5. Digby, L; McLean Stevens, A, Maintenance of female dominance in blue-eyed black lemurs (Eulemur macaco flavifrons) and gray bamboo lemurs (Hapalemur griseus griseus) under semi-free-ranging and captive conditions., Zoo biology, vol. 26 no. 5 (September, 2007), pp. 345-361, ISSN 0733-3188 [doi] [abs]
6. Digby, LJ, Infanticide by female mammals: implications for the evolution of social systems, in Infanticide by Males and Its Implications, edited by C. van Schaik and C. Janson (November, 2000), pp. 423-446, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521774987 [abs]
7. Digby, LJ; Kahlenberg, SM, Female dominance in blue-eyed black lemurs(Eulemur macaco flavifrons)., Primates; journal of primatology, vol. 43 no. 3 (July, 2002), pp. 191-199, ISSN 0032-8332 [12145400], [doi] [abs]
8. Digby, L, Infant care, infanticide, and female reproductive strategies in polygynous groups of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 37 no. 1 (January, 1995), pp. 51-61, Springer Nature [doi] [abs]
9. Digby, LJ; Ferrari, SF, Multiple breeding females in free-ranging groups of Callithrix jacchus, International Journal of Primatology, vol. 15 no. 3 (June, 1994), pp. 389-397, Springer Nature, ISSN 0164-0291 [doi] [abs]
10. Nievergelt, CM; Digby, LJ; Ramakrishnan, U; Woodruff, DS, Genetic analysis of group composition and breeding system in a wild common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) population, International Journal of Primatology, vol. 21 no. 1 (January, 2000), pp. 1-20 [doi] [abs]
11. Digby, LJ, Sexual behavior and extragroup copulations in a wild population of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)., Folia primatologica; international journal of primatology, vol. 70 no. 3 (January, 1999), pp. 136-145, ISSN 0015-5713 [10394062], [doi] [abs]