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Amanda Smith
Amanda Smith, M.S. student. Major advisor: Scott McMurry. Wildlife Toxicology and Wetland Ecology.  B.S. 2011, West
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Jason Belden
Jason B. Belden, Assistant Professor. Environmental Toxicology, Ecotoxicology.   Ph.D., 2003, Iowa State University Phone: 405-744-1718 Email:
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Mary C. Towner

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Mary C. Towner, Assistant Professor

Human Behavioral Ecology, Biological Anthropology, Evolutionary Medicine

 

Ph.D. 1999, University of California Davis

Phone: 405-744-5752

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Specific Interests

My research is in the field of human behavioral ecology. Human behavioral ecologists ask how the theories developed in anthropology and biology (especially animal behavior, ecology, and evolution) can be used to better understand variation in human behavior and life histories. For example, I have used historical records and dynamic modeling to investigate the importance of inheritance and marriage to human dispersal in 18th and early-19th century Massachusetts. I also have a strong interest in quantitative methods and have reviewed parental investment studies in order to evaluate the statistical approaches used by human behavioral ecologists. My current research interests include cultural macroevolution among Western North American Indian societies, alternative models of the demographic transition in Bangladesh, and evolutionary medicine, especially parental investment decisions regarding breastfeeding.

 

Selected Publications

  • Towner, M. C., and Luttbeg, B. 2007. Alternative statistical approaches to the use of data as evidence for hypotheses in human behavioral ecology. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 16:107-118.
  • Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Nunn, C. L., and Towner, M. C. 2006. Cultural macroevolution and the transmission of traits. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 15:52-64.
  • Towner, M. C. 2002. Linking dispersal and marriage in humans - Life history data from Oakham, Massachusetts, USA (1750-1850). Evolution and Human Behavior 23:337-357.
  • Towner, M. C. 2001. Linking dispersal and resources in humans - Life history data from Oakham, Massachusetts (1750-1850). Human Nature 12:321-349.
  • Towner, M. C. 1999. A dynamic model of human dispersal in a land-based economy. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 46:82-94.
 
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Latest news
Zoology assistant professor Mary Towner co-authored a recent paper entitled "A model comparison approach shows stronger support for economic models of fertility decline" in the Proceedings of the National Academy
Nicole Biddinger, a senior from Bartlesville High School, interned in the Jeyasingh lab last summer conducting experiments to understand thermal tolerance in ancient and extant Daphnia genotypes that were resurrected
Nicole Biddinger, a senior from Bartlesville High School, interned in the Jeyasingh lab last summer conducting experiments to understand thermal tolerance in ancient and extant Daphnia genotypes that were resurrected

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