Michelle Brown

she/her

brow7100@umn.edu

Anthropology

Room 365 Humphrey Center

301 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Collegiate Affiliation

Associate Professor,

Anthropology

Links

personal website

Google Scholar profile

I am a biological anthropologist with a research emphasis in primate behavioral ecology. I study feeding competition at multiple scales to determine how these forces shape energetics and the evolution of social relationships. As the Director of the Ngogo Monkey Project, I lead a research team based in Kibale National Park in western Uganda. We observe multiple social groups of five primate species and use biomarkers to track their health, stress, and reproductive patterns.

Educational Background & Specialties

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Educational Background

PhD: Evolutionary Primatology, Columbia University, 2011
MA: Evolutionary Primatology, Columbia University, 2005
BA: Cognitive Neuroscience, Harvard University, 2000

Specialties

primatology
behavioral ecology
endocrinology

Publications

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Publications

Brown, M & Gaffney, M (2023). Range utilization slopes as a measure of central tendency and intergroup overlap in primates. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 77, 77.
Brown, M, Steinitz, R, & Emery Thompson, M (2022). Wins and losses in intergroup conflicts reflect energy balance in red-tailed monkeys. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377, 20210152.
Frogge, H, Jones, RA, Angedakin, S, Busobozi, R, Kabagambe, P, Angwela, FO, Thompson Gonzalez, NA, & Brown, M (2022). Constraints on population growth of blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Behaviour, 159, 961-987.
Kavanagh, E, Street, SE, ... Brown, M, ... & Slocombe, K (2021). Dominance style is a key predictor of vocal use and evolution across nonhuman primates. Royal Society Open Science, 8, 210873.
Knott, C, ... Brown, M, ... & Susanto, TW (2021). The Gunung Palung Orangutan Project: Twenty-five years at the intersection of research and conservation in a critical landscape in Indonesia. Biological Conservation, 255, 108856.
Brown, M (2020). An observation of intergroup infanticide in grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena). Behaviour, 157, 1091-1098.
Brown, M (2020). Detecting an effect of group size on individual responses to neighboring groups in gray-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena). International Journal of Primatology, 41, 287-304.
McLester, E, Brown, M, Stewart, FA, & Piel, AK (2019). Food abundance and weather influence habitat‐specific ranging patterns in forest‐and savanna mosaic‐dwelling red‐tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 170, 217-231.
Brown, M & Waser, PM (2018). Group movements in response to competitors’ calls indicate conflicts of interest between male and female grey‐cheeked mangabeys. American Journal of Primatology, 80, e22918.
Jaeggi, AV, Trumble, BC, & Brown, M (2018). Group‐level competition influences urinary steroid hormones among wild red–tailed monkeys, indicating energetic costs. American Journal of Primatology, 80, e22757.
Goldberg, TL, Angedakin, S, Basuta, GMI, Brown, M, Butynski, TM, Chapman, CA, ... & Krief, S (2016). Remembering Jerry Lwanga: A Perspective from His Colleagues. International Journal of Primatology, 37, 131-135.
Brown, M (2014). Patch occupation time predicts responses by grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena) to real and simulated neighboring groups. International Journal of Primatology, 35, 491-508.
Brown, M (2013). Food and range defence in group-living primates. Animal Behaviour, 85, 807-816.
Brown, M & Crofoot, MC (2013). Social and spatial relationships between primate groups. Primate ecology and conservation - A handbook of techniques, 151-176.
Beehler, BM, Stevenson, TC, & Brown, M (2004). Commentary: Virgin rainforests and conservation. Science, 305, 943-944.
Hare, B, Brown, M, Williamson, C, & Tomasello, M (2002). The domestication of social cognition in dogs. Science, 298, 1634-1636.

Courses

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Courses

ANTH 1001 - Human Evolution
ANTH 3002 - Sex, Evolution, and Behavior
ANTH 3310 - Topics in BioAnth: Feeding Ecology of Primates and Humans
ANTH 3310 - Topics in BioAnth: Human-Wildlife Interactions
ANTH 4329 - Primate Ecology and Social Behavior
ANTH 5009 - Human Behavioral Biology
ANTH 8114 - BioAnth Grad Program Seminar: Behavioral Ecology of Primates