The Team

We have a large and flourishing research team that works on projects both in the field and the laboratory.

FACULTY

Principal Investigator: Mrinalini Erkenswick Watsa

My interests are broad, spanning reproductive biology, behavior, and ecology of wild primates. At my research site in Peru, I use genetics, behavioral observations, and a capture-and-release program to keep close tabs of a multi-generational population of 14 free-ranging groups of saddleback and emperor tamarins. These methods produce a complex set of data that are then utilized to answer a broad range of questions concerning endocrinology, paternity and relatedness, genetic chimerism, feeding ecology, space use, reproductive biology, demographics, health, and disease ecology. I also serve as the President and Senior Research Scientist with Field Projects International.

Download my CV.

Site Co-Director: Gideon Erkenswick Watsa

Gideon is a disease ecologist and geneticist who has been monitoring the primate community at Los Amigos for nearly 5 years. Through his work, we now have a clear idea of which parasites these primates host, providing a crucial baseline reading necessary for the detection of future disease outbreaks. Ultimately, his research has close ties to our lab’s interests in survival and fitness. He is also the Treasurer and Senior Research Scientist with Field Projects International.

FIELD RESEARCH TEAM

Efstathia Robakis

Effie is an Associate Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Ph.D. on vocal communication, space use, territoriality, and dispersal in sympatric callitrichids at Washington University in Saint Louis.

Matthew DeVries

Matt is a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing his Master’s research on individual behavioral ecology as impacted by edge environments among callitrichids at the University of Toronto.

Krista Banda

Kris us a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Master’s research on seasonality as a mediator of parasite richness among saddleback tamarins at Central Washington State University.

Alice Poirier

Alice is a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Ph.D. on olfactory communication in callitrichids at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.

LABORATORY RESEARCH TEAM

Samantha Lopez Clinton

Sam is a senior undergraduate biology major from Mexico City working on genetic screening for trichromacy and imaging of dental wear in callitrichids. She hopes to go to graduate school in primate biology in order to eventually work on habitat conservation and natural resource management in Mexico.

Aashna Narang

Aashna is a senior majoring in environmental biology with a minor in French. She is keenly interested in wildlife and has spent time studying primates in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, as well as working with leeches (!) in the forests of Southern India. She loves the field and working in a laboratory setting.

LABORATORY ALUMNI

Gary Yan

Gary studies both anthropology and biology. What interests him the most is the connection between human culture and evolution, and how technology, language, and organization have allowed the human species to shape itself over time.

Catherine Cumbe

Cat is a junior majoring in Anthropology (Global Health and the Environment) and Biology. She joined the lab because it would be a great way to expand her interest in physical anthropology. She is also very interested in the study of primates, so she is glad she can take part in it even if it involves studying their feces (!).