S. C. Alberts

Early life drought predicts components of adult body size in wild female baboons

This study finds that early-life drought in wild female baboons predicts shorter limbs but not torso length, with moderate heritability for body size measures.

Heritable and sex-specific variation in the development of social behavior in a wild primate

The paper examines heritable and sex-specific variation in the development of social behavior in wild baboons, finding early sex differences and weak heritability in grooming age.

Early life adversity and adult social relationships have independent effects on survival in a wild animal model of aging

The paper shows early life adversity and adult social isolation independently reduce survival in wild baboons, supporting both health selection and social causation hypotheses.

Ecology and age, but not genetic ancestry, predict fetal loss in a wild baboon hybrid zone

The paper examines fetal loss in wild baboons, finding that ecological factors and age, not genetic ancestry, predict pregnancy outcomes in a hybrid zone.

Genetic variance and indirect genetic effects for affiliative social behavior in a wild primate

The paper estimates genetic and environmental variance in grooming behavior in wild baboons, finding heritability and indirect genetic effects influencing social interactions.

Five decades of data yield no support for adaptive biasing of offspring sex ratio in wild baboons (Papio cynocephalus)

The paper tests four hypotheses about adaptive sex ratio bias in wild baboons using a large dataset and finds no support for adaptive biasing of offspring sex ratios.

Universal gut microbial relationships in the gut microbiome of wild baboons

The paper analyzes gut microbial relationships in wild baboons and finds that microbial correlations are largely universal across hosts, with positive correlations dominated by shared patterns.

Selection against admixture and gene regulatory divergence in a long-term primate field study

The paper combines field observations and genomic data from baboons to study admixture and gene regulatory divergence, finding selection against introgression similar to archaic hominins.

Synchrony and idiosyncrasy in the gut microbiome of wild baboons

This study examines gut microbiome dynamics in wild baboons, finding that microbial dynamics are largely idiosyncratic despite shared environments, with host-specific factors explaining most variation.

Genetic ancestry predicts male-female affiliation in a natural baboon hybrid zone

This study shows that genetic ancestry predicts male-female affiliative behavior in hybrid baboons, with anubis ancestry associated with higher rates of opposite-sex social bonding.

Beyond orphaned infants: novel effects of maternal death in wild primates

The paper examines the effects of maternal death on offspring fitness in wild primates, finding reduced survival before maternal death and intergenerational fitness impacts in three species.

Comparing proportional and ordinal dominance ranks reveals multiple competitive landscapes in an animal society

This study compares ordinal and proportional dominance rank metrics to predict 20 traits in wild baboons, finding sex-specific differences in how competition shapes outcomes.

Intergenerational effects of early adversity on survival in wild baboons

The paper shows that early adversity in wild baboon mothers reduces offspring survival, independent of the offspring's own adversity, through parental effects.