Stacey Tecot

My main interest is in how individuals cope with changing environments. My current focus is on the evolution of cooperative and reproductive strategies, with a particular emphasis on the evolution of allomaternal care in primates. My fieldwork takes place in Madagascar, where I co-direct the Ranomafana Red-Bellied Lemur Project (RRBLP) with Rachel Jacobs. The goal of the RRBLP is to establish a long-term demographic dataset to track individual reproductive success and population growth/decline over time, and actively blend research with conservation and capacity building. This work is done in part with computer-assisted facial recognition technology for lemurs. I am also working with tourist and research guides in Madagascar on a storytelling project to help document and disseminate ecological knowledge. At the University of Arizona, I direct LEEP (Laboratory for the Evolutionary Endocrinology of Primates). LEEP is currently conducting research on the hormonal basis of human-animal interaction and primate infant care strategies, and developing new assays to measure noninvasively collected samples from wild, endangered animals. Additional research foci include the evolution of pair-bonding and monogamy, and the gut microbiome.

Degrees

• PhD, Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin