CICASP | Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology

Research

• Primate behavioral ecology
• Primate parasite/disease ecology and ecological immunology
• Parasite community structure and coinfection
• Fitness costs and health impacts of parasitism in natural populations
• Wildlife health monitoring and conservation
• Biocomplexity - fractal analysis as an indicator of complexity loss or increased stereotypy in disease

Infectious Disease Ecology

I have initiated a long-term project monitoring parasite infection dynamics in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), with the aim of modeling interactions between primate and parasite population processes and the impacts of parasitism on primate health and behavior. Understanding these patterns and processes under natural conditions can help determine potential impacts of habitat alteration on primate populations, which is a constant concern in conservation of endangered species. One of my main interests is to determine host traits that contribute to heterogeneity in infection phenotypes across individuals. I am currently focusing on the importance of social structure in mediating both exposure and susceptibility to parasitic nematode infection, working with the populations of Japanese macaques on Koshima and Yakushima Islands, under naturalistic and field-experimental conditions.

Fractal Complexity in Animal Behaviour

In addition, I have been investigating the utility of fractal analysis in health monitoring studies of wild animal behaviour. I am currently using various fractal methods, including detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and various other Hurst exponent estimators, as well as other tools that measure fractal dimension, to examine complexity in behavioural sequences - which are subtely more stereotypical with stress and disease. My previous research suggested a possible link between parasitic infection and complexity loss in Japanese macaques. I am currently applying these fractal tools to penguin foraging behavior in collaboration with researchers at the IPHC-DEPE, CNRS-University of Strasbourg. We aim to use fractal tools to investigate through a comparative approach behavioral complexity in relation to both individual and environmental quality.

Background

• (2000) B. Sc. in Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary
• (2002) M. A. in Anthropology, Concentration: Primatology, Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary
• (2010) D. Sc. in Primatology, Graduate School of Sciences, Division of Biology, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University

After receiving the MA degree from the University of Calgary, I moved to Japan and worked as an English teacher before returning to academia in 2007 to conduct doctoral studies at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute. My dissertation, which was supervised by Dr. Michael Huffman, was entitled "Gastrointestinal helminth parasitism among Japanese macaques: patterns, processes and host responses". After completing my degree, I remained at the PRI as a post-doctoral research associate with CICASP, before becoming assistant professor in April, 2012. To date, I have studied primates in one capacity or another in Central America, Africa, and Asia, but my current focus is on Asian macaques and their parasitic worms. My current research is supported by a grant-in-aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Selected Publications

• MacIntosh AJJ*, Pelletier L*, Chiaradia A, Kato A, Ropert-Coudert Y (2013) Temporal fractals in seabird foraging behaviour: diving through the scales of time. Scientific Reports 3:1884
• Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ, Jacobs AT, Watanabe K, Petit O (2013) Predicting leadership using nutrient requirements and dominance rank of group members. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 67:457-470
• MacIntosh AJJ, Jacobs A, Garcia C, Shimizu K, Mouri K, Huffman MA, Hernandez AD (2012) Monkeys in the middle: parasite transmission through the social network of a wild primate. PLoS one 7:e51144
• MacIntosh AJJ, Huffman MA, Nishiwaki K, Nishiwaki-Miyabe T (2012) Urological screening of wild Japanese macaques: trends in nutrition and health. International Journal of Primatology 33:460-478
• MacIntosh AJJ, Alados CL, Huffman MA (2011) Fractal analysis of behaviour in a wild primate: behavioural complexity in health and disease. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 8:1497-1509
• MacIntosh AJJ, Hernandez AD, Huffman MA (2010) Host age, sex, and reproductive seasonality affect nematode parasitism in wild Japanese macaques. Primates 51:353-364
• MacIntosh AJJ, Huffman MA (2010) Towards understanding the role of diet in host-parasite interactions: the case for Japanese macaques. In: Nakagawa N, Nakamichi M, Sugiura H (eds) The Japanese macaques. Springer, pp. 323–344
• Hernandez AD, MacIntosh AJJ, Huffman MA (2009) Primate parasite ecology: patterns and predictions from an on-going study of Japanese macaques. In: Huffman MA, Chapman CA (eds) Primate parasite ecology: the dynamics of host-parasite relationships. Cambridge University Press, pp. 387–401
• MacIntosh AJJ, Sicotte P (2009) Vigilance in ursine black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus): an examination of the effects of conspecific threat and predation. American Journal of Primatology 71:919-927
• Sicotte P,MacIntosh AJ (2004) Inter-group encounters and male incursions in Colobus vellerosus in Central Ghana. Behaviour 141(5):533-553
  

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