Rebecca Chancellor

Rebecca Chancellor
  • Professor
  • Department: Anthropology & Sociology and Psychology
  • Institution: West Chester University of Pennsylvania
  • Email: RChancellor@wcupa.edu

Education

  • B.A., University of Nevada, Reno
  • M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Davis

Research Interests

primate behavioral ecology and conservation

Opportunities

Work Study Positions Available: No

Grant Funded Positions Available: No

Course-Credit Research Opportunities Available: Yes

Please contact me for details.

Volunteer Research Positions Available: No

Biography

My research focuses broadly on understanding the ecological underpinnings of social behavior. In my earlier research I asked how feeding competition affects social relationships, paying close attention to the role of food distribution and abundance on female affiliative and aggressive behavior. I conducted this research on gray-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena) in Kibale National Park, Uganda and on rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at the California National Primate Research Center. I am currently asking how the ecological constraint of living in fragmented habitats influences social behavior, feeding competition, and cultural behavior including tool use in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) living in Gishwati forest, Rwanda.

Contact Information

Phone: 610-436-2228

List of Publications

  • Rundus, A., Chancellor, R., Nyandwi, S., Johnston, A. (2022). Factors influencing chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) crop foraging in farmland outside of Gishwati forest, Rwanda. International Journal of Primatology, 43, 494–512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-022-00291-1
  • Chancellor, R., Rundus, A., Nyiratuza, M., Nyandwi, S., and Aimable, T. (2020). Community based conservation and chimpanzee research in Gishwati forest, Rwanda. American Journal of Primatology, e23195.
  • Chancellor, R. L., Rundus, A. S., Nyandwi, S. (2017). Chimpanzee seed dispersal in a montane forest fragment in Rwanda. American Journal of Primatology. 79, 1-8.
  • Chancellor, R. L., Langergraber, K., Ramirez, S., Rundus, A. S., & Vigilant, L. (2012). Genetic sampling of unhabituated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Gishwati Forest Reserve, an isolated forest fragment in western Rwanda. International Journal of Primatology, 33, 479-488.
  • Chancellor, R. L., Rundus, A. S., & Nyandwi, S. (2012). The influence of seasonal variation on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) fallback food consumption, nest group size, and habitat use in Gishwati, a montane rainforest fragment in Rwanda. International Journal of Primatology, 33, 115-133.

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