Noninvasive Assessments of Reproductive Strategies and Function

My research is focused on using methods that are least disruptive to animals to evaluate their reproductive strategies and function. I focused on five species that represent the complex spectrum of the two-way influence between animals and people: yellow baboons whose behaviors mirror human economic systems, African lions that sometimes cause conflict with the people they live alongside, leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles that are sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic effects, and Bactrian camels that live in a zoo. I used noninvasive techniques to understand how these species evolved and maintain their reproductive systems and how people can sometimes alter those mechanisms. By using noninvasive techniques (e.g., behavioral observations, endocrinology, and environmental monitoring), we can attempt to observe animals with minimal disruption so their true behaviors and physiology can be revealed to us. My dissertation begins with my academic journey. First, I detail my research beginning at the broadest scale of overall evolutionary mechanisms that influence reproductive systems, then I discuss how smaller scale human-lion interactions influence lion behavior and physiology in a mixed-use, protected area. Next, I address how area sea turtle reproductive success is influenced by maternal factors and environmental conditions, which include human impacts on increased temperatures through global climate change. Then, I describe a new method to evaluate reproductive states for the domesticated Bactrian camel using zoo-housed camels but with implications that can support the reliance of camels for many parts of the world.