(Ph.D., U. Wisconsin-Madison 2001)
Assistant Professor
Evolutionary Anthropology
College Hall 208
509.335.7964
jwalfaro@wsu.edu
Research: Mating strategies, evolution of social behavior, reproductive endocrinology, phylogenetics and phylogeography, Neotropical primates
Courses: Introduction to Physical Anthropology (ANTH 260); Sex, Evolution and Human Nature (ANTH 468); Primate Behavioral Ecology (ANTH 567); Human Evolution (ANTH 461/561)
Jessica Lynch Alfaro is a biological anthropologist whose research centers on the evolution of diversity in mating strategies and social structuring in the neotropical capuchin monkeys, Cebus. Like humans, Cebus are a recent and successful radiation of weedy generalists, able to survive even in marginal habitats through extractive foraging and tool use. Despite a recent divergence, the five species of Cebus (C. apella, C. capucinus, C. olivaceus, C. albifrons, C. kaapori) differ markedly in social and sexual behavior and in grouping patterns, and thus they provide an excellent system for comparative study of both cultural and genetic variation.
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS:
Gesquiere, L.R., Altmann, J.A., Alberts, S.C., Khan, M.Z., Couret, J., Yu, J.C., Endres, C.S., Lynch, J.W., Ogala, P., Wango, E. (2005) Coming of age: steroid hormones of wild immature baboons, Papio cynocephalus. American Journal of Primatology 67(1): 81-100.
Altmann, J., Lynch, J.W., Nguyen, N., Alberts, S.C. and Gesquiere, L.R. (2004) Life-history correlates of steroid concentrations in wild peripartum baboons. American Journal of Primatology 64: 95-106.
Lynch, J.W., Altmann, J., Njahira, M.N., Rubenstein, N. (2003) Concentrations of four fecal steroids in wild baboons: short-term storage conditions and consequences for data interpretation. General and Comparative Endocrinology 132: 264-271.
Strier, K.B., Lynch, J.W., and Ziegler, T.E. (2003) Hormonal changes during the mating and conception seasons of wild northern muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides hypoxanthus). American Journal of Primatology 61: 85-99.
Lynch, J.W., Ziegler, T.E., and Strier, K.B. (2002) Individual and seasonal variation in fecal testosterone and cortisol in wild male tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella nigritus. Hormones and Behavior 41: 275-287.
A subadult male tufted capuchin monkey, Cebus apella nigritus, from the Caratinga Biological Station in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Note the large canines and strong jaw; this is the robust form of the capuchin monkey, and although as adults they are only the size of house cats, they are able to break open sugar cane and palm nuts with just the force of their jaws. Cebus apella have recently been documented using stone tools to crack open nuts and to dig for tubers!
Photo by Jessica Lynch Alfaro
How has Cebus dispersed across Central and South America? At WSU, I am a member of the Center for Reproductive Biology (http://www.crb.wsu.edu/), and I am collaborating with Dr. Michael Alfaro of the School of Biological Sciences. We are using nuclear and mitochondrial genetic markers to study the relationships of Cebus in order to reconstruct biogeographic patterns of speciation and dispersal across Central and South America, with particular interest in the inter-relationships of gracile and robust Cebus forms in points of contact in northern and western South America. I have developed a protocol for extracting DNA from museum specimens, and to date, have successfully sampled representatives from over 30 localities across Latin America, a sampling virtually impossible to accomplish in the present day using field specimens. Genetic data will be used to construct a populational phylogeny and to test hypotheses of patterns of dispersal, gene flow, and interbreeding across species.
Dr. Jessica Lynch Alfaro performing a DNA extraction, from skin and remnant muscle tissue from museum specimens of Cebus and Saimiri. Museum specimens have been collected from the Connor Museum (www.sci.wsu.edu/cm/) at WSU, the Los Angeles County Field Museum, the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley, the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology. The Alfaro Molecular Phylogenetics Labs are housed in both the Department of Anthropology in College Hall and the School of Biological Sciences in Eastlick Hall, WSU.
How do sexual dynamics and dispersal patterns affect genetic structuring within Cebus populations? In a second project, I am using molecular genetic techniques to study the mating system, dispersal pattern, and population genetic structure of wild Costa Rican Cebus through analysis of microsatellite markers. It has been suggested that in Cebus, the mating system is a core determinant of social organization, which in turn strongly influences genetic structuring at a population level. In collaboration with Gustavo Gutierrez Espeleta of the University of Costa Rica, I plan to test these ideas by [1] using molecular techniques to identify the genetic mating system, [2] describing how overall genetic variation in this species is partitioned at the social group, population, and regional levels, with particular interest in male versus female kin networks within and across groups, and [3] exploring how the variation revealed in these analyses compares to that predicted based on current understanding of this species' socioecology. Long-term goals include collaboration with field researchers in several locations in Central and South America to examine the variation in mating systems, kin relationships, and genetic structuring across Cebus.
A white-fronted capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) in the mangroves of Quepos, Costa Rica. Capuchin monkeys are unique among neotropical primates in their exploitation of mangrove resources. They are able to manipulate hard-shelled items like crabs, shellfish and snails for consumption. They travel along the branches during high tide when the forest is flooded, and they descend to the ground to dig for clams at low tide.
Photo by Michael Alfaro.