About the talk

Climate change has a profound impact on ecosystems, including cascading effects on food availability, animal behaviour, and survival. We examine how climate influences food availability and activity budgets of the leaf-eating, endangered Ugandan red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Using 13 years of behavioural and 23 years of tree phenology data, we investigate indirect effects of climate on behaviour, specifically the links between climate-related changes in young leaf production - their essential food resource - and activity, with a focus on differences between sexes and female reproductive states. Additionally, we will investigate how population dynamics in our study group are linked to climate and food availability, to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how environmental change can cascade through ecosystems, providing insights on how climate change can both affect animals directly and indirectly.

About the speaker

I am a 3rd year PhD Student at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour broadly interested in behavioural ecology and the cascading effects of climate change on behaviour and population dynamics. During my research stay here, I am analysing the population dynamics of the endangered Ugandan red colobus monkey in relation to climate and food availability, building on long-term Life history and phenology data collected in Kibale NP.