Behavioral Ecology

Niina Nurmi

Research interests
I have a broad interest in evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology. My current research focuses on the role of ecological constraints in shaping the social structure of organisms by investigating the nature of feeding competition among wild bonobo (Pan paniscus) females. This species is characterised by fission-fusion dynamics, female-biased dispersal and socio-sexual behaviours. Therefore the bonobo is a particularly interesting study system in terms of social conflict and reconciliation.

Education

  • June 2012 – Noveember 2018
    Doctoral student, Courant Research Centre Evolution of Social Behaviour, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
    Thesis: ‘The tolerant chimpanzee – Quantifying costs and benefits of sociality in wild female bonobos (Pan paniscus)’ supervised by Dr. Oliver Schülke from the Courant Research Centre Evolution of Social Behavior, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, and Dr. Gottfried Hohmann and Dr. Tobias Deschner from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
  • September 2010 – August 2012
    MSc Ecology and Evolutionary biology, University of Helsinki
    Thesis: ‘Lek dynamics and dispersal of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus L.)’
  • September 2004 – June 2008
    BSc (Hons) Biology (Zoology), University of Edinburgh
    Honours project: ‘Terrestrial locomotion in birds’


Relevant experience

  • August 2012 – April 2013
    Nine months of field research in Luikotale, DRC, as a part of my PhD project on feeding competition among wild bonobo females
  • August 2011 – December 2011
    Six months as a research assistant for Ecological Genetics Research Unit, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • May 2008 – June 2009
    Thirteen months in Ethiopia as a field co-manager for Guassa Gelada Research Project, California State University, Fullerton, USA



Publications

  • Nurmi N, Hohmann G, Goldstone L, Deschner T and Schülke O (2018) The “tolerant chimpanzee”—towards the costs and benefits of sociality in female bonobos. Behavioral Ecology
  • Fashing, P.J., Nguyen, N., Barry, T.S., Goodale, C.B., Burke, R.J., Jones, S.C.Z., Kerby, J.T., Lee, L.M., Nurmi, N.O., Venkataraman, V.V. (2011). Death among geladas (Theropithecus gelada): A broader perspective on mummified infants and primate thanatology. American Journal of Primatology 73:405-409



Meeting abstracts

  • Fashing, P.J., Nguyen, N., Kerby, J.T., Lee, L.M., Nurmi, N.O., Venkataraman, V.V. (2010). Patterns and sources of mortality among geladas (Theropithecus gelada) at Guassa, Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S50: 103
  • Lee, L.M., Nurmi, N.O., Nguyen, N. and Fashing, P.J. (2010). Observations of multiple live births in wild geladas (Theropithecus gelada) at Guassa, Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S50: 153
  • Fashing, P.J., Nguyen, N., Kerby, J.T., Lee, L.M., Nurmi, N.O., Venkataraman, V.V. (2009). Two group takeovers, infanticides and pregnancy terminations in Theropithecus gelada at Guassa, Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 48: 127