Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

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Tel: 01223 333753, Fax: +44 (0)1223 333840, E-mail: djc7@cam.ac.uk

Wildlife biology, primate socio-ecology and rain-forest conservation

Functional anatomy of the gastro-intestinal tract – gross, microscopic and ultrastructural – in primates and other mammals, in relation to diet and feeding behaviour – statistical correlations between structure and function, with allometric corrections.

Ecology, behaviour and conservation of primates in tropical rain-forest, mainly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico. Long-term studies of diet and feeding behaviour, plant phenology and chemistry, ranging behaviour and the use of space, population density and habitat type, effects of disturbance and ecosystem protection and management.

Apart from research student activities in their home countries (and Vietnam and Indonesia), the main project is in Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) on the role of frugivores - primates, bats, birds in seed dispersal, hence forest regeneration, in relation to the sustainable management of forests outside protected areas. Also, involved, as Scientific Consultant to Project Orang Pendek , in the validation of a new species of ape in the Kerinci-Seblat National Park, Sumatera, and ecology studies of primates and other wildlife, in relation to FFI and World Bank projects.

Colleagues
12 Graduate students (currently) of Wildlife Research Group, from Brazil (2), Venezuela (2), Indonesia (2), Vietnam (1) and U.K. (6)

Main Collaborators
Agency for Forestry Research and Development (Ministry of Forestry, Government of Indonesia).
Dr Jito Sugardjito and others (Centre for Research in Biology, LIPI, Bogor, Indonesia).

Main sources of funding
(1) Project Barito Ulu, Indonesia. Funded by: Wickes Europe and previously, Garuda Indonesia, Lasmo Oil, Baring Foundation, Enterprise Oil, Chubb, Unilever, Inchcapes, British Council, Royal Geographical Society, Ultramar and others.
(2) Research Studentships from Governments of tropical countries for their nationals, as well as Commonwealth Scholarships, Wildlife Conservation Society (New York Zoological Society), Fauna and Flora International, Primate Conservation Inc., Primate Action Fund (Conservation International), Denver Zoological Foundation.

Selected publications
Chivers, D.J. (1992) Primate diets: gastro-intestinal adaptations. In: "The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Human Evolution" (JS Jones, RD Martin, DR Pilbeam, Eds) pp 60-64. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chivers, D.J. (1992) Socio-ecology and conservation of gibbons in South-east Asia, with special reference to Borneo. In: "Forest Biology and Conservation in Borneo" (Ghazally Ismail, Murtedza Mohamed & Siraj Omar, Eds) pp 230-244. Yayasan Sabah, Centre for Bornean Studies, Publ. No. 2, Kota Kinabalu.

Chivers, D.J. (1994) In: "The Evolutionary Ecology of Colobine Monkeys" (AG Davies & JF Oates, Eds) pp 205-227. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chivers, D.J. (2001) The swinging singing simians: fighting for food and family in Far East Forests. In: "The Apes: Challenges for the 21st Century" (V. Sodaro, C. Sodaro, eds) pp. 1-27. Brookfield Zoo, Chicago.

McConkey, K.R., Aldi, F, Ario, A. and Chivers, D.J. (2002) Selection of fruit by gibbons (Hylobates muelleri x agilis) in the rain forest of central Borneo. Int. J. Primatol. 23 : 123-145.

Commitante, R, Husson, S., Morrogh-Bernard, H. and Chivers, D.J. (2003) Where the wild things are not - the plight of the wild orang-utan. Biologist. 50 (2): 75-80.

McConkey. K.R. and Chivers, D.J. (2004) Low mammal and hornbill abundance in the forests of Barito Ulu Central Kalimantan. Oryx 38: 439- 447.

Chivers, D.J. and M. Santamaria (2004) Feeding biology of Neotropical primates. A Primatologia Brasil no 8, pp. 37-51. IPEMA/SBPr, Vitoria, ES, Brasil.

Chivers, D.J. (2005) Gibbons: the small apes. In: "World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation" (J. Caldecott and L. Miles, eds), pp 205-214. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Mendes Pontes, A.R., Chivers, D.J. and Lee, P.C. (2006) Effect of biomass on assemblages of large mammals in a seasonally-dry forest in the Brazilian Amazonia. J. Zool.(Lond.) 271 (3): 278-287.