Research | gilliankingbailey

Current Research

Juvenile Cebus capucinus in Sector Santa Rosa, Costa Rica

Ateles geoffroyi in Sector Santa Rosa, Costa Rica

Dissertation Research:

My current research investigates the relationship between behavior and hormones. Androgens, a class of hormones that includes testosterone, are most often studied in males, but females produce them as well. I am interested in how androgens are related to behavior, such as aggression, maternal care, and dominance status. Additionally, I am interested in the relationship between competition and androgens. Males typically compete for access to mates to maximize their reproductive success and exhibit increased androgen levels when competing for mates. Females, on the other hand, compete for access to food. My research investigates the correlation between food availability and androgen levels in order to further our understanding of the hormonal underpinnings of competition. I am currently collecting data at Sector Santa Rosa of the Área de Conservación de Guanacaste in Costa Rica

Pilot Season:

I finished my pilot field season at Sector Santa Rosa in December 2015. I initially arrived at the field site in May to conduct a 10-week pilot study for my dissertation research on androgens and behavior in female white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus). The 10-week field pilot season turned into a 7-month field season when I was offered, and accepted the position of project manager for the Santa Rosa Capuchin Project.

I collected biological (fecal) samples and processed these samples into Solid Phase Extraction cartridges. The samples are currently being analyzed at Stacey Tecot's Laboratory for the Evolutionary Ecology of Primates at the University of Arizona. I will be presenting my results at the American Association of Physical Anthropology's annual meeting in New Orleans in April 2017.

Other Research:

In the summer of 2016 I worked with Professor Katharine Jack, undergraduate Stephen Cortese to examine primate health responses to extreme drought in Costa Rica. We will be presenting our results at the American Association of Physical Anthropology's annual meeting in New Orleans in April 2017.

Past Research

In the summer of 2014 I was a research assistant to Christopher Marsh in his investigations of the population density of three species of sympatric primate species, the brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus), red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus), and white-fronted capuchin (Cebus albrifrons veriscolor), in fragmented forest along the Magdalena River, Colombia. The details of this study have been published in Folia Primatologica's 87th issue.

PDF: http://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/443929

Scientific American article:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/fractured-monkeys/

Christopher D. Marsh and Gillian King-Bailey in Colombia

In 2012-2013, under the supervision of Dr. Karin Enstam Jaffe, I investigated the relationship between male cheetah behavior and female reproductive cycle in captive cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) at Safari West, a private AZA accredited zoo dedicated to conservation and environmental education. I used radio immunoassay to measure fecal estrogen and progesterone in order to determine whether the female cheetah had cycled. Results suggested that she had cycled. I ran a multivariate analysis of variance and found not statisctically significant relationship between the male's behavior and the female's reproductive cycle.