About

Melissa Jane Remis received her PhD from Yale University in 1994 and joined Purdue University faculty in 1996. She is a Professor of Anthropology and serves as the Department Head of the Department of Anthropology since 2018. Her specialization includes Africa, Biological Anthropology, Primate Ecology, Human Ecology, Nutrition, Conservation Biology, Hunter-gatherers, Environmental Anthropology, Ecology, Wildlife, and Multispecies Relationships. Dr. Remis's field-based research in the Central African Republic initially focused on the behavioral ecology of western gorillas, which were poorly known before her research in the late 1980s. She is currently engaged in collaborative ecological and ethnographic research on interrelated human and wildlife ecologies, diet, health, and social impacts of extractive industry and conservation in Central Africa. Additionally, she has led research on the evolution of feeding strategies among African apes, including research on captive apes in zoological facilities. Dr. Remis has authored over 38 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. She has served as a reviewer and board panel member for agencies such as NSF and Wenner-Gren, and has been on the editorial board of the International Journal of Primatology since 2003 and the African Primate Section of the International Union of Conservation since 2016. At Purdue, she teaches courses on Primate Ecology, Conservation and Behavior, and Biological Anthropology at both graduate and undergraduate levels, and has trained students in African field research and zoo-based research.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Biology
• Zoology
• Anthropology
• Ecology
• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Archaeology
• Geography

Selected publications

• Shaping Life in the Shadows

  2022-02-02 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  This chapter uses an anthropological lens to understand the nature of women’s choices in the context of legal and illegal wildlife economies as well as the broader context of continual socioeconomic and cultural shifts across time. Ethnography and historical analysis of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas Complex in Central African Republic support the authors’ arguments that women have demonstrated choices to engage in an illicit economy in fleeting and yet fruitful ways. It is paramount to consider the everyday obstacles and barriers that serve as preconditions to these moments for women in protected areas if sustainable conservation and development is to be successful.

  PublisherDOI

• Erratum for Gomez et al., “Plasticity in the Human Gut Microbiome Defies Evolutionary Constraints”

  mSphere · 2021-03-16

  erratumOpen access

  Volume 4, no. 4, e00271-19, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00271-19. The following sentence should be added to the end of the first paragraph of the Acknowledgments section: “Collection and export of fecal samples was also facilitated by the Filoha Hamadryas Project with the generous permission of the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority.”

  PublisherDOI

• Social contact behaviors are associated with infection status for Trichuris sp. in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)

  PLoS ONE · 2021 · 10 citations

  • Biology
  • Zoology
  • Medicine

  Social grooming in the animal kingdom is common and serves several functions, from removing ectoparasites to maintaining social bonds between conspecifics. We examined whether time spent grooming with others in a highly social mammal species was associated with infection status for gastrointestinal parasites. Of six parasites detected, one (Trichuris sp.) was associated with social grooming behaviors, but more specifically with direct physical contact with others. Individuals infected with Trichuris sp. spent significantly less time grooming conspecifics than those not infected, and time in direct contact with others was the major predictor of infection status. One model correctly predicted infection status for Trichuris sp. with a reliability of 95.17% overall when the variables used were time spent in direct contact and time spent grooming others. This decrease in time spent grooming and interacting with others is likely a sickness behavior displayed by individuals with less energy or motivation for non-essential behaviors. This study emphasizes the possible links between host behavior and parasitic infections and highlights the need for an understanding of a study population's parasitic infections when attempting to interpret animal behavior.

  PublisherDOI

• Social contact behaviors are associated with infection status for whipworm ( <i>Trichuris</i> sp.) in wild vervet monkeys ( <i>Chlorocebus pygerythrus</i> )

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2020-10-07 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Social grooming in the animal kingdom is common and serves several functions, from removing ectoparasites to maintaining social bonds between conspecifics. We examined whether time spent grooming with others in a highly social mammal species was associated with infection status for gastrointestinal parasites. Of six parasites detected, one ( Trichuris sp.) was associated with social grooming behaviors, but more specifically with direct physical contact with others. Individuals infected with Trichuris sp. spent significantly less time grooming conspecifics than those not infected, and time in direct contact with others was the major predictor of infection status. One model correctly predicted infection status for Trichuris sp. with a reliability of 95.17% overall when the variables used were time spent in direct contact and time spent grooming others. This decrease in time spent grooming and interacting with others is likely a sickness behavior displayed by individuals with less energy or motivation for non-essential behaviors. This study highlights the need for an understanding of a study population’s parasitic infections when attempting to interpret animal behavior.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Elephants, Hunters, and Others: Integrating Biological Anthropology and Multispecies Ethnography in a Conservation Zone

  American Anthropologist · 2020 · 20 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Geography

  ABSTRACT Popular and scholarly accounts lament the demise of African forest elephants ( Loxodonta cyclotis ) and the loss of biodiversity across the Congo Basin, but there has been less appreciation of the consequences of restricted forest access for human communities in conservation contexts. We demonstrate the usefulness of biological anthropology in combination with multispecies ethnography for anchoring the futures of BaAka foragers and African forest elephants. Tuma elephant hunters have long negotiated their communities’ relationships with elephants and others who have relied on the BaAka to navigate the forest. Tracing multispecies interactions along a transnational network of elephant trails ( bembo ) helps us understand the ways that elephants have shaped forest structure and the fabric of existence for tuma and others. Bembo facilitate movement across watersheds and may prove a critical tool in the development of culturally relevant conservation practices. [ foragers, elephants, multispecies, BaAka, Congo Basin ]

  PublisherDOI

• Plasticity in the Human Gut Microbiome Defies Evolutionary Constraints

  mSphere · 2019-07-30 · 77 citations

  articleOpen access

  The results of this study indicate a discordance between gut microbiome composition and evolutionary history in primates, calling into question previous notions about host genetic control of the primate gut microbiome. Microbiome similarities between humans consuming nonindustrialized diets and monkeys characterized by subsisting on eclectic, omnivorous diets also raise questions about the ecological and nutritional drivers shaping the human gut microbiome. Moreover, a more detailed understanding of the factors associated with gut microbiome plasticity in primates offers a framework to understand why humans following industrialized lifestyles have deviated from states thought to reflect human evolutionary history. The results also provide perspectives for developing therapeutic dietary manipulations that can reset configurations of the gut microbiome to potentially improve human health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Engaging Holism: Exploring Multispecies Approaches in Ethnoprimatology

  International Journal of Primatology · 2018-05-08 · 27 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Nonhuman Primates and “Others” in the Dzanga Sangha Reserve: The Role of Anthropology and Multispecies Approaches in Ethnoprimatology

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2017-01-25 · 14 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

  PublisherDOI

• Number of Grooming Partners Is Associated with Hookworm Infection in Wild Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops)

  Folia Primatologica · 2016-02-14 · 41 citations

  article

  There are many known benefits of social grooming among primates, including maintenance of social relationships, removal of ectoparasites, and improved physiological condition. Recently, however, researchers have noted that social grooming and social contact may also present a significant cost by facilitating transmission of some parasites and pathogens. We investigated whether the number of social grooming partners varied based on infection status for gastrointestinal parasites. We used focal animal sampling and continuous recording to collect data on the number of grooming partners for known individual vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops). We collected non-invasive faecal samples and examined them using faecal flotation, faecal sedimentation, and immunofluorescence microscopy. We detected 6 parasites: Trichuris sp. (92%), hookworm (71%), spirurids (68%), Oesophagostomum sp. (84%), Strongyloides sp. (24%), and Entamoeba coli (92%). The number of grooming partners varied significantly based on infection with hookworm and sex. No significant relationships were detected for other parasites. Associations between host behavioural variation and some parasite taxa (specifically Trichuris, Oesophagostomum, and Entamoeba spp.) were impossible to explore due to an extremely high prevalence among hosts. This is the first report that we are aware of that has detected an association between social grooming behaviours and infection with hookworm.

  PublisherDOI

• Monkeys on the Menu? Reconciling Patterns of Primate Hunting and Consumption in a Central African Village

  Developments in primatology · 2016-01-01 · 4 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Carolyn A. Jost Robinson

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  14 shared

• David Modrý

  Masaryk University

  11 shared

• Klára J. Petrželková

  Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Biology

  8 shared

• Brandi Wren

  Film Independent

  7 shared

• Steven R. Leigh

  5 shared

• Klára Vlčková

  University College Cork

  5 shared

• Ellen S. Dierenfeld

  World Wildlife Fund

  4 shared

• Thomas R. Gillespie

  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• Named to the editorial board at the International Journal of…
• Named to the African Primate Section of the International Un…