Martin | Kibale Ecology and Conservation Project

Primate Ecology and Behavior

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Project Desciption and Aims

Nonhuman primates’ social and dietary diversity make them ideal for testing socioecological hypotheses. Kibale National Park is exceptional in this regard, with 13 primate species spanning diverse diets, group sizes and dynamics, social structures, mating systems, movement patterns, and other behavioral dimensions. Within this context, we investigate the causes and consequences of behavioral variation, with an emphasis on the folivorous Ugandan red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles).

Current projects, drawing on more than a decade of data, examine context-dependent dietary preferences (using tree phenology and distribution), social relationships, and ranging. Ongoing work integrates high-resolution food-resource maps with behavioral observations and GPS-collar data to link food distribution to social dynamics, activity budgets, and movement.

Contact Information

Urs Kalbitzer, Colin Chapman, Martin Golooba

Martin Golooba

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Martin Golooba investigates the behavior and ecology of primates in Kibale, primarily working on red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles). For his bachelor’s thesis at Makerere University, he examined the effects of climate variability on tree phenology and red colobus behavior in Kibale. For his master’s thesis, also at Makerere University, he investigated the ecological and social drivers of red colobus range use in Kibale, combining detailed data on ranging with information on interspecific interactions and food availability, and contextualizing them within more than 13 years of long-term monitoring. Currently, Martin is preparing for his PhD thesis and supervising data collection and entry for the Kibale Ecology and Conservation Project in the field, always motivated to go in the forest to participate in data collection and further develop project ideas at the interface of primate behavior and conservation.