Dr. Odd Jacobson
Postdoc
Research Group Barret
Main Focus
I am a behavioral ecologist studying how animals modify their behavior in response to ecological and social change, and how these responses relate to life-history strategies, fitness, and evolutionary processes. My research focuses particularly on movement and space use as mechanisms through which environmental and demographic change shape the social and spatial organization of wild populations. I combine long-term observations of wild primates with demographic, climatic, and remotely sensed environmental data, using causal inference and Bayesian hierarchical modelling to study processes that unfold from daily behavioral decisions to multi-decadal change.
My work spans long-term primate field studies across tropical Asia and the Americas, from highly seasonal dry forests to lowland rainforests and peat-swamp systems. In white-faced capuchins at the Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project, I examine how climatic variability and intergroup competition shape spatial partitioning and social trade-offs. I am also investigating whether and how dispersing male capuchins transfer spatial information about the local environment between groups through social learning. My research on Bornean orangutans at Tuanan Research Station shows how mothers in a largely solitary species modify their movements to meet offspring social needs at a cost to their own energy budgets. I am extending these approaches comparatively to the sympatric primate community at Ketambe, including Sumatran orangutans, long-tailed macaques, Thomas’s leaf monkeys, white-handed gibbons, and siamangs, to test how life history, social organization, and ecological context shape movement strategies and responses to environmental change.
In parallel, I develop methods to recover behavioral and movement information preserved in decades of field notes and hand-drawn maps. By converting these vulnerable archives into standardized and reusable datasets, I aim to safeguard their scientific value, reconstruct past behavioral responses to climatic variability, and strengthen our ability to predict responses to future climate change.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2020-2024
IMPRS Doctoral Student at Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz.
Studying movement ecology of white-faced capuchins.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Meg Crofoot, Prof. Dr. Susan Perry, Dr. Brendan Barrett
2011-2015
Bachelor of Science in Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University.
Cumulative GPA: 3.884. Cum Laude.
2014
Study Abroad in Wildlife Management Studies at The School for Field Studies in Tanzania.
2018-2019
Wild Horse and Burro Project – Lake Pleasant, Arizona
Nine months as a research assistant with the USGS and Colorado State University tracking
wild burros using radio telemetry, and collecting behavioral and welfare data.
2018
Chipmunk Project - Ruidoso, New Mexico
Two months as a research assistant working with Penasco least chipmunks (Tamias minimus atristriatus) Tasks: set and monitor Sherman traps and camera traps, handling small mammals, taking measurements for identification, collecting tissue samples, administering ear tags, vegetation surveys.
2016-2019
Lomas Barbudal Capuchin Project – Bagaces, Costa Rica
Eighteen months through 2016-2017, one month in 2018, and four months in 2019 as a research assistant and field manager for a long-term behavioral project on white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus). Tasks: Collect data using focal follows, ad libitum,
group scans, and phenology protocols, fecal sampling and processing, data editing and processing, training field assistants, supervising data collection.
2016
Bendire’s Thrasher Project – New Mexico and Arizona
Five months as a research assistant for a masters project on Bendire’s Thrashers (Toxostoma bendirei). Tasks: avian point count surveys, identifying western birds by sight
and sound, territory mapping, vegetation surveys, communicating with landowners, navigating to transects, data
entry.
2015
EVOTRAC Project – Fort Collins, Colorado
Four months as a research and lab assistant for a PhD project on mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), and caddisflies (Trichoptera). Tasks: Collecting and identifying steam insects, collecting data on stream conditions, conducting thermal and metabolic experiments in the lab, weighing insects, data entry, data analysis, navigating to field sites.
2014
The School for Field Studies – Tanzania, East Africa
One month of independent research examining wildlife products of traditional medicine used among the Maasai tribe. Tasks: interviewing various members of the Maasai tribe (e.g. elders, traditional
healers, and wildlife managers), scientific writing, literature review, data analysis. Supervisor: Dr. John Kioko.
Volunteer experience
2019
Mule Deer and Bighorn Sheep Collaring – Central Arizona
Two days as a volunteer assistant for a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) collaring effort with the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Wildlife Connectivity Program. Tasks: 1. To work as part of a team to locate
mule deer and bighorn sheep. 2. To help the fixed-wing pilot locate the animals using radio communication and hand signaling from the ground.
2016
Gambel’s and Scaled Quail Project – White Sands, New Mexico
One day as a volunteer assistant for a PhD project on Gamble’s quail (Callipepla gambelii) and Scaled quail (Callipepla squamata). Tasks: box and funnel trapping, handling and
banding, radio telemetry.