Main Focus
I am a behavioral ecologist,
primarily aimed at understanding the factors governing decision-making
and fine-scale behavior of animals in ecologically and socially relevant
contexts. I combine observational
and experimental work at field conditions, deploying state-of-the-art
tracking technologies to ask basic questions on the causes of variation
in individual behaviors, and how such differences affect transitions
in group state over different scales. I
am really interested in how individuals exert influence on others and
what actions make individuals more influential. Working in Kenya
with olive baboons, we develop field-based experimental approaches to
study how groups solve conflicts of interest concerning
where to go. To study fine-scale behavior, we employ inertial
sensors, such as accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes and
combine these with supervised machine learning approaches. Before moving to study group decision-making
in primates, I studied flight behavior and
performance of soaring vultures and how these large birds manage to
utilize thermals to obtain lift and cover great distances in a
very energy-efficient manner.