Research

Shuar Health and Life History Project

Collaborators

Aaron Blackwell, University of Oregon

Melissa Liebert, University of Oregon

Felicia Madimenos, University of Oregon

Josh Snodgrass, University of Oregon

Larry Sugiyama, University of Oregon

Samuel Urlacher, Harvard University

About

The Shuar Health and Life History Project is part of the UCSB Center for Evolutionary Psychology’s Human Universals Project, and is a collaborative effort involving researchers from the University of Oregon, UCSB Center for Evolutionary Psychology, UCLA, the Shuar Federation, and the Ecuadorian Health Ministry Hospital in Sucúa, Ecuador.

The goal is to conduct a wide range of integrated studies in the Morona-Santiago region of Ecuador over the next four years. The range of conditions experienced by Shuar provides an excellent opportunity to test evolutionary life history predictions, as well as the universality of hypothesized psychological adaptations.  Studies will investigate Shuar health, subsistence, economy, parenting, reasoning, and demography.  For instance, preliminary data on over 2000 Shuar schoolchildren collected by our Ecuadorian colleagues show significant variation in child health both within and between villages, and between areas with different levels of acculturation and road access.

Publications and Presentations

Cepon et al. 2012. The Shuar Health and Life History Project: the effects of market integration on intestinal helminth levels among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. Am J Hum Biol, in press.

Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS. 2011. Normative calcaneal quantitative ultrasound data for the indigenous Shuar and non-Shuar Colonos of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Arch Osteoporosis (link to article).

Cepon et al. 2011. Physical activity levels and chronic disease risk in the Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia. Am J Hum Biol 23: 255.

Cepon et al. 2011. Variation in cardiovascular disease risk in response to market integration in two diverse populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 144: 107.

Liebert MA, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Madimenos FC, Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS. 2011. Immunoglobulin E, C-reactive protein, and cardiovascular and metabolic health among the indigenous Shuar of Ecuador. Am J Hum Biol 23: 264.

Blackwell AD, Snodgrass JJ, Madimenos FC, Cepon TJ, Gandolfo T, &  Sugiyama LS. 2009. Trade-offs in immune function and growth in a rural Amazonian village. American Journal of Human Biology 21(2): 247.

Metabolic Adaptation and Health Change Among Indigenous Siberians

Collaborators

James Josh Snodgrass, University of Oregon (Advisor)

Bill Leonard, Northwestern University

About

I am part of an ongoing research project in Northeastern Siberia that includes scientists from Russian and the United States.  The project is aimed at understanding adaptation to circumpolar environments, as well as evaluating the effects of economic and social change on health

Publications and Presentations

Cepon et al. 2011. Circumpolar Adaptation, Social Change, and the Development of Autoimmune
Thyroid Disorders Among the Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia. Am J Hum Bio

Cepon et al. 2010. Evidence of autoimmune thyroid disorders among the Yakut of Siberia. American Journal of Human Biology.

Cepon et al. 2009. Anthropometric and Lifestyle Correlates of Blood Pressure among Indigenous Siberians. American Journal of Human Biology 20(2).

Cepon et al. 2009. Evolutionary Medicine and Hypertension among Indigenous Siberians. Presented at the Northwest Anthropology Conference, April 9-11, 2009, Newport, Oregon.

Cepon et al. 2009 Anthropometric and sociocultural correlates of blood pressure in the Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia.  Masters Paper.

Bones and Behavior

Collaborators

Organizers:
Susan C. Antón, Department of Anthropology, NYU (website)
J. Josh Snodgrass, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon (website)

Participants:
Christian Crowder, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York
Anthony Di Fiore, Department of Anthropology, NYU (website)
Dana L. Duren, Department of Community Health, Wright State University (website)
Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania (website)
William R. Leonard, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University (website)
Steven R. Leigh, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (website)
W. Scott McGraw, Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University (website)
Richard J. Sherwood, Department of Community Health, Wright State University (website)
Sara Stinson, Department of Anthropology, City University of New York (website)
Phoebe Stubblefield, Department of Anthropology, University of North Dakota (website)
Trudy R. Turner, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (website)
Claudia R. Valeggia, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania (website)
Frances J. White, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon (website)

Graduate Student Participants:
Felicia C. Madimenos, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon (website)
Emily R. Middleton, Department of Anthropology, NYU
Christopher A. Schmitt, Department of Anthropology, NYU (website)

Project Assistants:
Sean Badger, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon
Tara Cepon, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon
Cindy Kirchmeier, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon

About

The Bones and Behavior working group combines biological anthropologists with interest in paleopathology, anthropometrics, and primatology to develop an integrative approach to research questions concerning primate adaptation. The aim was to set the agenda for future research initiatives for this new synthesis, and to generate a measurement protocol that maximizes our ability to link behavioral, biological, and skeletal databases. We are also working to establish research groups to address evolutionary questions in an explicitly collaborative fashion, as well as to establish a database that organizes and distributes data on human and primate biology and behavior.