Melissa Emery Thompson, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
MSC01-1040, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
memery@unm.edu

Ph.D. Anthropology, Harvard University 2005
A.M., Anthropology, Harvard University 2000
B.S. Anthropology & Human Biology, Emory University 1997

My research focuses on reproductive strategies and the interaction of ecology, physiology and behavior, particularly in female apes. To accomplish this, I employ non-invasive methods to obtain urine, fecal, or saliva samples for quantification of hormone production. My dissertation research explored how variation in resource access -- seasonal, interindividual, and interpopulation -- impacts the reproductive function of chimpanzees. This line of research clearly pointed to significant and pervasive effects of energy availability on ovarian hormone production and reproductive success in chimpanzees, closely paralleling the effects documented in human females. My colleagues and I have extended this basic principle to explore the impact of fecundity on the dynamics of the mating system, as well as the wide-ranging influence that access to high quality foraging areas has on intra-group competition. I am also interested in the form and function of sexually coercive behavior in different species (including chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans), the impact of aging on reproductive and social status, the interaction of ecological and social stress, population and individual diversity in aggressive behavior, causes and correlates of reproductive development (including arrested development in orangutans), and flexibility of life history patterns within and between ape species.

My research takes place in two very different contexts: the field locations where wild apes live, and the laboratory where we can discover the otherwise hidden biology that can help better understand ape behavior. I have conducted research on chimpanzees at the Kibale National Park, the Budongo Forest Reserve, and the Ngamba Island Sanctuary in Uganda, and in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, and enjoy fruitful collaborations with scientists at other chimpanzee research sites and sanctuaries. Martin Muller and I have established the Hominoid Reproductive Ecology laboratory at UNM to foster collaborative and comparative studies of great ape and human physiology. These include studies of wild and captive orangutans, wild bonobos, and humans in the U.S. and the Tsimane population of Bolivia.