Dr Jean Boubli

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• Peel Building Room 315
• T: +44 (0)161 295 6825
• E: j.p.boubli@salford.ac.uk
• SEEK: Research profile

I graduated in Biological Sciences in Brazil at the University of Brasilia, following this I obtained my MA and PhD degrees in Biological Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.  I was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany from 2000 to 2001and a post doc of the Zoological Society of San Diego (San Diego Zoo) from 2001 to 2005.  In 2005, I became a lecturer (and shortly afterwards a senior lecturer) in Biological Anthropology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and in 2009, I left Auckland to take on the position of Brazil Program Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) where I stayed until 2012.  I am currently a Reader in Animal Ecology in the Environment and Life Sciences Program at the Univeristy of Salford.

My teaching relates to my research in the areas of Tropical Ecology and Conservation; Primate Behaviour and Conservation; Wildlife Ecology and Behaviour and Biogeography.

Tropical Ecology and Conservation; Primatology; Animal Behaviour and Ecology, Biogeography.

Tropical regions harbour nearly half of all life on earth in spite of occupying only 7% of our planet’s surface.  This fact defies one of the most basic ecological principles (area/diversity relationship) and yet it is still poorly understood. Why are tropical regions so diverse? At a time of biodiversity crisis questions of the origins and maintenance of species diversity are more relevant than ever.  My research scope includes biogeography, ecology and conservation with a focus on Neotropical primates.  My goal is to better understand the processes that led to the origins and evolution of the New World’s rich tropical biota.  I also endeavour to understand current ecological processes that help maintain such diversity and that are currently under threat by human activities.  My focus is on the primates as they are essentially tropical animals, very diverse taxonomically and ecologically, and as many as one third of the species are under threat of extinction.  I am currently involved in three research programs: 1) historical biogeography of Amazonia; 2) Ecology and conservation of rainforest mammals - including a specific project designed to assess the conservation status of the endangered muriqui monkey of Rio de Janeiro; and 3) description and cataloguing of Amazonian’s biodiversity.  Although the latter research is greatly supported by very modern molecular investigation, it is largely based on 19^th century style exploration of remote areas of South America.

Member of ATBC (Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation), IPS (International Primatological Society), Humboldt Foundation 

Refereed Journal Articles (122 citations in Web of science)

Boubli, J. P., Rylands, A. B., Farias, I., Alfaro, M. E. and Alfaro, J. L. 2012.    Cebus Phylogenetic Relationships: A Preliminary Reassessment of the Diversity of the Untufted Capuchin Monkeys.  American Journal of Primatology. 74: 381-393 (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajp.21998/pdf)

Boubli, J. P., Couto-Santos, F. and Strier, K. B. 2012. Structure and Floristic Composition of One of the Last Forest Fragments Containing the Critically Endangered Northern Muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus, Primates).  Ecotropica. 17: 53-69

http://www.gtoe.de

Alfaro, J. L., Boubli, J.P., Olson, L.E., Di Fiore, A., Wilson, B., Gutiérrez-Espeleta, G., Schulte, M., Neitzel, S., Ross, V., Schwochow, D.,  Farias, I., Janson. C., and Alfaro, M. E. 2012. Explosive Pleistocene range expansion leads to widespread Amazonian sympatry between robust and gracile capuchin monkeys. Journal of Biogeography 39(2): 272-288 (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02609.x/abstract)

Chaves, P.B., Alvarenga, C.S., Possamai, C.B., Dias, L.G., Boubli, J.P., Strier, K.B., Mendes, S.L., Fagundes, V.  2011. Genetic diversity and population history of a critically endangered primate, the northern muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxanthus).  PlosOne. 6 (6): 1-12.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0020722

Boubli, J.P., Silva, M. N. F., Amado, M. V., Herbk, T., Pontual, F. B. And Farias, I. 2008. A  Taxonomic reassessment of black uakari monkey, Cacajao melanocephalus, Humboldt (1811), with the description of two new species. International Journal of Primatology 29: 723-741

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n872170168h13014/

Brito, D, Grelle, C E V, Boubli, J P. 2008. Is the Atlantic Forest protected area network efficient in maintaining viable populations of Brachyteles hypoxanthus? Biodiversity and Conservation 17: 3255-3268.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/e1825t9372643757/?MUD=MP