THE LAB
Primate Ecology & Molecular Anthropology (PEMA) Lab
The PEMA lab at UCSC, which opened in 2018, works at the intersection of isotope biogeochemistry, primatology and archaeology.
Our research mainly relies on stable isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ15N, δ13C, δ34S, δ66Zn, δ56Fe, δ65Cu) in the study of primate ecology and past human behavior.
We have a focus on establishing isotope baselines and isoscapes, which are fundamental to most isotope projects.
We also employ direct observations and camera traps to study primate behavior in the wild, as well as rope based tree climbing for arboreal sample collection.
- strontium extraction from skeletal remains, plants, mollusks and soil in clean lab setting
- collagen extraction from bone/dentin
- tooth enamel prep for 87Sr/86Sr, δ18O and δ13C analyses
- processing of primate hair and feces meeting bio-safety standards (BSL 2)
- enamel silver phosphate extraction (δ18O)
- microscopy
ENSLAVED LIFE HISTORIES
The origins and life histories of enslaved Africans from Lagos (Portugal) revealed by multi isotope analysis
Meet our international team!
Thanks to generous funding by the National Geographic Society we were able to welcome five incredible students from Portuguese universities to the team working on the human remains from Valle da Gafaria, investigating these individuals' life histories and African roots via stable isotope analysis.
Students are from the fields of forensic anthropology, bioarcheology, archaeology and primatology with roots in Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Portugal, and Spain. Later in the summer, another UCSC alumni with a background in forensics as well as our PostDoc Xueye joined the group to assist with the stable isotope sample preparation at UCSC.
The team working together at UCSC from left to right:
Carina Leirião, Naima Tucker, Ana González Ruiz, Xueye Wang, Toto,
Vicky Oelze, Joseph Babatunde Ogunsetire, Luis Sanca, Luiza Báo Sobreira
Our initial 2 week sampling fieldwork commenced in June 2022 at the Anthropology Department of the University of Coimbra, with 5 students and the Co-PIs Maria Teresa Ferreira and Sophia Wasterlain. Students were trained in sampling of human tooth enamel and dentin, briefed in lab safety and their rights and obligations as project members. We successfully sampled tooth enamel and dentin from all human remains with preserved dentition recovered from Valle da Gafaria. We also held lectures on the archaeology of Valle da Gafaria and the bioarcheology of the human remains, as well as on stable isotope ecology.
In August 2022, the students came to California and spend almost 2 weeks in the PEMA lab at UCSC to process all ~120 dental samples for multiple isotope analysis. We extracted collagen from dentin samples using the ultracentrifugation method, weighed collagen vor δ13C and δ15N analysis and enamel samples for δ18O and δ13C analysis, and prepared enamel samples for 87Sr/86Sr analysis in the clean lab facilities of the Keck lab.
Further, we had engaging guest lectures on the History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Greg O'Malley, UCSC) the Archaeology of Slavery and the African Diaspora (Cameron Monroe, UCSC), and highly informative lab tours in the Stable Isotope Lab by Colin Carney and of the Keck Isotope Facility by Terry Blackburn (see images below). Many thanks to all speakers for spending time with us, we appreciate you sharing your knowledge!
Project Background
The archaeological site of Valle da Gafaria in Lagos is known as the earliest and largest burial site of enslaved Africans ever found in Europe, predating one of the most shameful chapters of Western history, the Transatlantic slave trade. Bioarchaeological evidence obtained from a total of 158 individuals proves they were of African origin and forcefully deported to Lagos in the 15th to 17th centuries. However, the African regions they were abducted from remain unknown. This makes it difficult to connect them with descendant communities today and to assess Portugal’s early collusion in the slave trade.
Multiple stable isotope analysis has the potential to address questions regarding the African origins and dramatic shifts in lifestyles of the individuals discovered at Valle da Gafaria as isotope ratios are incorporated into forming skeletal tissues and can be associated with specific dietary customs (carbon, nitrogen, sulfur), environments (carbon, sulfur), climate/geographic region (oxygen) and geological location (strontium), and hence overall life conditions. Sampling small amounts of dental tissue, which reflect early (1st molar enamel) and later childhood (1st molar root) as well as adolescence (3rd molar enamel) and early adulthood (3rd molar roots), allows us to trace how living conditions changed through a person’s early life.
We will measure these isotopes in teeth from the human remains from Valle da Gafaria in collaboration with our Portuguese colleagues and our international team of students to reconstruct individual human origins and to document the rapid changes in life conditions as the result of forced migration from West and Central Africa to Portugal. Isotopic similarities between individuals may suggest they are of common origin. We will also consult complimentary evidence such as dental modifications and signs of nutritional stress as well as the factors age and sex when reconstructing individual life histories.
This project is supported by and consulting with members of Djass - Associação de Afrodescendentes to actively include the voices of members of the afrodescendant community in Portugal into this project and the dissemination of our findings.
TEAM
Toto
assistant (2018-present)
does not check his emails regularly
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
our current research endeavors and the people behind them
Pan African Strontium Isoscape
Vicky M. Oelze
The analysis of the stable isotopes of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) is a well-established tool in archaeological science to trace back the geological origin of an organism, e.g. where a person was born and raised. Several studies have measured the 87Sr/86Sr values in the remains of humans subjected to slavery in the Americas. However, these studies were largely unable to pinpoint human origins beyond the identification that some individuals must have been born somewhere in Africa because spatial bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr data barely exists for Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental strontium isotope mapping of West and Central Africa can provide a solid foundation for future forensic investigations of historic human displacement during the transatlantic slave trade. This new map will also be relevant for wildlife forensics, as isotopes are a increasingly used method to identify hotspots of illegal poaching activity. This project has the potential to be have significant impact on the archaeology of Africa and the transatlantic slave trade, as well as for wildlife conservation. We are looking forward to possibly extending this project to sulfur, oxygen and possibly lead isotope data in the future.
We are generously funded through the Webster Foundation and are collaborating on this project with the Pan African Programme (http://panafrican.eva.mpg.de/), former Primatology Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, as well as many collaborating botanist and archaeologists worldwide.
Cu, Fe, Zn and Sr isotopes as bio-markers of human
and non-human primate life history
Renee Boucher and Vicky M. Oelze
While Strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) have been used for two decades to reconstruct the mobility patterns of prehistoric people and even fossil hominins, the isotopic measurement of other elements with large mass have only more recently become technically feasible to be of use in anthropology. Initial work on Copper and Iron stable isotope ratios (δ56Fe, δ65Cu) suggests that there are significant differences between human males and females, presumably due to different metabolism and function of these elements in female reproductive physiology. The isotope ratios of Zink (δ66Zn) measured in tooth enamel have recently been described to correspond to the trophic level in the food web, making this element potentially extremely valuable for paleodietary reconstructions in fossils. We measure in enamel samples from the Tai chimpanzee skeletal collection to reconstruct female mobility and potentially identify the areas to which they were native. We measure δ56Fe and δ65Cu values to explore how these isotope systems between male and female chimpanzees to test the utility of this approach to differentiate between the sexes in other large bodied primates such as fossil hominoids. Finally we test the use of δ66Zn in enamel of wild chimpanzees to address questions of tropic level and meat consumption, where nitrogen isotopes yielded contradicting results.
We are collaborating with Roman Wittig (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany) and Klervia Jaouen (Géosciences Environnement, Toulouse, France).
hunter-gatherer mobility revealed through strontium isotope analysis
collaborations with archaeologists at UC Davis and Vicky M. Oelze
We are collaborating with faculty members and graduate students from the Evolutionary Anthropology Wing of the Anthropology Department at UC Davis on several independent projects using strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) to reconstruct prehistoric hunter-gatherer mobility and catchment areas. These projects include archaeological and modern material from South Africa, the United States and Peru. We provide fast sample turnover for environmental reference samples used to build regional 87Sr/86Sr isoscapes and prepare and analyze human dental enamel samples for 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O.
We collaborate with Patricia McNeil and Teresa Steel (https://anthropology.ucdavis.edu/people/testeele), with Candice Ralston and Prof. Jelmer Eerkens (https://anthropology.ucdavis.edu/people/jweerken) and with Thomas Snyder and Prof. Randy Haas (https://anthropology.ucdavis.edu/people/wrhaas).
Changes in crop management in prehistoric South Korea
Vicky M. Oelze, Brynn Lowry & Gyoung-Ah Lee
Together with archaeobotanist Lee we use stable isotope analysis to examine how ancient agricultural management practices in raised field farming have changed over time at the archaeological site of Pyeonggeodong in south-central South Korea. Alongside radiocarbondating, are analyzing the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in individual charred macoremains of barley (Hordeum sativum), wheat (Triticum aestivum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), broomcorn millet (Panicum millaceum) and rice (Oryza sativa), as well as soy (Grycine max ssp.) and azuki beans (Vigina angluris). These specimen date to the Neolithic Chulmun period (~5000 calBP), the Bronze Age, Three Kingdom Period to the Goryeo Dynasty (~1000-500 calBP). We are specifically interested in how irrigation and manuring strategies have changed over time as farming transitioned from millet and azuki production to a larger diversity of cereals.
We are collaborating on this project with Gyoung-Ah Lee (Anthropology Department, University of Oregon) https://anthropology.uoregon.edu/profile/galee/
bonobo weaning behavior
Vicky M. Oelze, with help of Isabella O'Neal and Kayla Ott
Weaning, the process from breastfeeding to solid food intake in infants, is an important and critical phase in primate ontogeny which is extremely difficult to monitor in elusive wild primate species. Particularly in great apes such as bonobos (Pan paniscus), observations on breastfeeding and weaning are limited due to the arboreal nature of this species. Stable isotope analysis has proven to be a powerful tool to assess changes in diets of elusive animals over time. In this project we employ stable isotope analysis to indirectly and non-invasively monitor the process of ceasing breastmilk in the diet of wild infant bonobos by analyzing fecal samples from wild bonobos of the LuiKotale Bonobo Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By monitoring the weaning process throughout infant ontogeny in males and females, we will be able to address questions on sex biased maternal investment in wild bonobos.
This project is a collaborative venture between the PEMA lab, Barbara Fruth and Gottfried Hohmann representing the LuiKotale Bonobo Project.
The Hawaiian Social Zooarchaeology Project
David Ingleman, advised by Eréndira M. Quintana Morales and Vicky M. Oelze
Ritualized, politicized, and reciprocal relationships characterized the earliest historically documented Hawaiian interspecies interactions. However, following the colonial encounter, commodified forms of multispecies sociality and radically simplified plantation ecologies increasingly transformed the socio-natural environment. Working with legacy collections excavated from middens at the ʻIolani Palace—a key site of political authority in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1845 until 1893—and animal burials from other sites, this study will combine archival and artifact analyses with morphological, stable isotope, and genetic analyses of archaeofaunal remains to cast light on the multispecies practice and embodied experiences of nineteenth-century sovereignty in the Hawaiian kingdom. Initial results document both persistence and selective change in feasting and animal husbandry practices. For example, although historically undocumented, dog meat remained on the table well into the nineteenth century. On the other hand, stable isotope evidence suggests variability in animal husbandry practices. Moreover, metal tool butchery marks and the remains of introduced animal species, as well as possibly exotic breeds of domesticated dog and pig, shed light on dynamic interspecies interactions.
chimpanzee termite fishing ecology
Seth Phillips, advised by Vicky Oelze
Seth is studying the relationship between chimpanzees and Macrotemes termites in the Isaa valley of Tanzania. He investigates how much of the termites' complex ecology and reproductive cycle effects the chimpanzees ability to successfully fish for termites across the seasons. How do chimpanzees know when it is a good day to fish? And how do termites respond to predation by chimpanzees and does that vary over time?
Seth will examine whether the swarming behavior of the Macrotermes alates provides an ephemeral opportunity for chimpanzees to effectively termite-fish at Issa and beyond. Seth will experimentally replicate termite-fishing behavior at a selection of Macrotermes mounds. From long-term camera trap footage Seth will additionally assess the timing, the duration/intensity and the mode of chimpanzees visiting and re-visiting termite mounds.
We are collaborating on this project with Alex Piel and the GMERC (http://gmerc.org/).
"A bite of chimp habitat" - dental proxies for habitat in extant chimps
Vicky M. Oelze with the PanAf and the MPWC
Stable isotope ratios have been measured in a range of fossil teeth from early African hominins and great apes from Africa and Asia. Isotope data suggests that many fossil hominin taxa in Africa were adapted to open environments and depended highly on C4 plant food resources. Although savanna chimpanzees are frequently used to model the ecology of these fossil species based on the biochemistry of their tooth enamel, there is little dental enamel isotope data from different chimpanzee populations, and none from those inhabiting savanna woodlands, more similar to environments presumably inhabited by fossil hominins. The same can be said about dental microtexture analysis. We close these gaps by providing a combined carbon and oxygen isotope and dental microwear dataset from forest and savanna chimpanzees and by integrating comprehensive information on their habitats. We predict that canopy cover and habitat density will be differently be reflected in dental carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios. Differences in the biomechanical properties of plant foods between savanna and forest habitats (van Casteren et al. 2018) will also be reflected in distinct microtexture patterns. By integrating detailed habitat and climate information to the dental ecology data we will provide a completely new framework for the interpretation of isotopic and microwear data from fossil primates, including hominins.
Project PI Vicky Oelze (UCSC), with Gaelle Bocksberger (PanAf, MPI-EVA), Ellen Schulz-Kornas, Kornelius Kupczik and Adam van Casteren (MPWC and MPI-EVA).
the demographics of termite fishing chimpanzees
Victoria Collins and Vicky M. Oelze
Wild chimpanzees across Africa fish for termites using complex tool kits made of sticks or other parts of vegetation. We still little understand how this complex cultural behavior and knowledge is transferred from one generation to the next via social learning. Using camera trap footage data from the Issa chimpanzees (GMERC), assistant Victoria Collins is investigating sex differences in chimpanzee termite mount visitation rates and how long females stay actively fishing at termite mounts compared to males, particularly when they are with their dependent offspring.
We are collaborating on this project with Alex Piel and the GMERC (http://gmerc.org/).
COLLABORATIONS
meet our collaborators and their projects
Greater Mahale Ecosystem Research and Conservation (GMERC)
(formerly Ugalla Primate Project)
We are collaborating with GMERC on numerous projects on chimpanzee termite fishing behavior, termite ecology and camera trap data. The GMERC project is located in the savanna/Miombo woodland landscape of the Issa Valley in Tanzania, East Africa. Research at GMERC focuses on the behavior, ecology, and conservation of the wildlife and especially primates that live across the Greater Mahale Ecosystem.
Taï Chimpanzee Project (TCP)
Since 2015, Vicky Oelze is collaborating with TCP on the stable isotope ecology of the Taï chimpanzees and Taï forest. Our main interest is the relationship between meat eating behavior in the Taï chimpanzees and the stable isotope ratios of hair. In another project we investigate the stratification in plant stable isotope ratios within the forest canopy. The Taï Chimpanzee Project is located in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, and has been established over thirty years ago by Christophe and Hedwige Boesch. Today the project is co-directed by Roman Wittig and Catherine Crockford and is following three habituated neighboring communities of chimpanzees.
LuiKotale Bonobo Project
Since 2009, Vicky Oelze is collaborating with Gottfried Hohmann and Barbara Fruth on the isotope ecology of the LuiKotale bonobos. This collaboration is still ongoing with a current project on bonobo infant weaning behavior. The site, with today 2 habituated bonobo groups and another under habituation, is located close to the Western border of Salonga National Park in DRC, which belongs to the largest remaining forest blocks in Africa.
UCSC Isotope Facilities
We measure our stable isotope samples on the UCSC campus either in the Stable Isotope Lab (C, N, S, O)or in the Keck Lab (Sr)
Emergent Treeworks
Research on the ecology of living primates can get a very different perspective if one is high up in the trees. Trust us, it's a fact! Will Koomjian, certified arborist, tree climber, and undisputed tree nerd, instructs and assists researchers worldwide in accessing the crowns of the canopy for their projects. Will worked with Vicky in Taï National Park in 2015. In the field season of 2017, Vicky worked with another stellar arborist, the late James Luce who passed away in summer 2020 and is dearly missed. The publication Lowry et al. (2021) is dedicated to James. (https://www.arborcanada.com/instructors/Luce-James/)
teaching
Classes in and around the lab
ANTH101F
Evolution of Human Diet
fall quarters of 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, summer session 2021
This lecture discusses the evolution of human diet and subsistence from a biological anthropological perspective, including evidence on past human behaviors revealed by paleoanthropology, archaeology, archaeometry, primatology, genetics and osteology. It will introduce the students to the main hypothesis related to the evolution of dietary behavior from our early ancestors up to the transition to agriculture and animal husbandry, from man the hunted - to man the hunter - to man the cook – to man the farmer.
ANTH 106
Primate Behavior & Ecology
spring quarters of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
This lecture covers the fundamentals of the ecology, behavior and evolution of non-human primates, and how to study these in the wild. The topics encompassed include the human perception of primates, primate life history, feeding ecology, socioecology, concepts of group living and social behavior, communication, endocrinology, mating systems and kin selection. Moreover the course will focus on great apes, their societies, culture and cognition.
ANTH 107B
Stable Isotope Ecology
spring quarters of 2018, 2019, 2021, summer session 2019, scheduled for winter 2023!
This combination of lectures and now also hands-on lab experiences (sample collection, sample prep, collagen extraction) provides students with a comprehensive overview of stable isotope research in fossil hominoids, prehistoric human populations and non-human primates. We discover the wide application of isotopic research in biological anthropology, bioarcheology, primatology, forensics and wildlife ecology.
ANTH 107C
Chimpanzee Behavior & Culture
continuous
This course on chimpanzee behavioral diversity will provide students with in depth understanding of the study of chimpanzee behavior from direct observations and camera trap footage. Students gain hands-on experience with the deployment and maintenance of our own trail cameras in the UCSC upper camps forest. Using free behavioral coding software (BORIS), we will also develop ethograms and analyze hundreds of videos of wild chimpanzees from Tanzania and assess their behavior.
ANTH Independent Study
Chimpanzee Video Coding Team
continuous
In this team project of up to 12 undergraduate students we code camera trap video footage from the Issa Valley in Tanzania, as savanna chimpanzee field site we are collaborating with via GMERC. Our task is to go through the video material, identify animal species and their behaviors, and entering the information into excel. We intensively discuss the identification of age, sex and individuals in chimpanzees. We meet at least once per week and discuss our progress and problems, and share our video highlights with each other. Actively participating student can obtain credits for 2-5 units (independent study).
ANTH 103
Forensic Anthropology & Bioarchaeology
spring 2017
This hands-on lab class introduces students to the classic bioanthropological methods to determine age, sex, ancestry, body stature and health in human skeletal remains, such as modern forensic cases or archaeologically recovered material.
ANTH 294
Advanced Readings in Biological Anthropology
tba
This class is a small discussion round of PIs, grad students and postdocs that focuses on key research articles in our discipline. Advanced readings are novel or seminal journal articles suggested by the instructor or the participating graduate students. These papers will be relevant to biological anthropology in general, archaeological sciences or human evolution and we will particularly focus on articles employing isotope biogeochemistry and ancient DNA analytics. We will read, summarize and critically discuss research articles and rotate with the responsibilities of presenting the key findings of each article.
NEWS
What's happening in the PEMA lab?
Successful field season and faunal sampling at Issa Valley, Tanzania, with the folks from GMERC! with wonderful moments with local field staff, international researchers, the chimps, red-tailed monkeys and yellow baboons.
We mourn the tragic loss of our beloved friend and ASU colleague Sebastian, who was just wrapping up his one year field work at the Ngogo chimpanzee field site in Uganda. Rest in peace, Seb, you will never be forgotten!
10th of June, 2022
Seth wrote a blog entry for GMERC on his latest field trip to Issa Valley, Tanzania to study termite activity patterns
October 2021
our labs former undergraduate student Cielo De La Rosa
receives 2020-2021 Dean's Undergraduate Research Award for her senior thesis on Investigations on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) termite-fishing cognition: Issa, western Tanzania. Her project was selected among the top 3 of all applications across the division. Congratulations Cielo for this recognition!
Our new isotope study on mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Gabon made it on the cover of AJP! Find out more about the project at: http://www.projetmandrillus.com/
November 2020
UCSC NEWS - donation allows PEMA lab to build a strontium isotope map of equatorial Africa
February 2020
Vicky was honored to join a special dinner with Jane Goodall, hosted by the Walt Disney Family in October 2019
November 2019
Chimpanzee video coding team 2019 (several folks missing on this pic). We are turning this independent study group into a lab class in Winter 2020
December 2019
Stable Isotope Ecology (ANTH 107B) class 2019 in the "field"
successful and fun field sampling tour with both grads and undergrads; we went and explored upper campus forest and found many interesting plants, animals and fungi, which we prepared for stable isotope analysis
May 2019
fume hood - Lab safety first!
Dec 19th 2018: Good to know that a human dummy is good to use my brand new fume hood without inhaling toxic gases. Hope this level of safety also applies to real humans made of flesh & blood. Lab safety first!
Seth in the field 2017/2018
video by the GMERC team
Field work is what you make of it!
NSF funds innovative stable isotope equipment at UC Santa Cruz
former members of the PEMA lab and field assistants
Payton Sime
field assistant (2021-2022)
Issa Valley, Tanzania
lab assistant (2019-2021)
Chimp Video Coding Team
Julie Elliot
lab assistant (2020-2021)
Chimp Video Coding Team
Brennan Popovic
undergraduate student
(2021)
Brynn Lowry
lab assistant
(2020-2021)
Eden Washburn, PhD
graduate student
(2017-2020)
Cielo De La Rosa
undergraduate student
(2019-2020)
Isabella O'Neal
lab assistant/ intern
(2018-2019)
Kelsea Ranks
undergraduate student
(2018-2019)
Aya Abdul-Karim
Koret Fellowship (2018-19)
Gabriel Granado
Koret Fellowship
(2018-2019)
Victoria Collins
lab assistant
(2017-2018)
James Luce
tree climber, field assistant (2017)
Taï National Park
Florent Gnimion
field assistant (2017)
Taï National Park
Rumen Fernandez Martin
field assistant, tree climbing assistant (2016)
Taï National Park
Dr. Simone Ban
field assistant (2015)
Taï National Park
CONTACT
find the PEMA lab in the anthropology department at UCSC
Vicky M. Oelze
Anthropology Department
University of California at Santa Cruz
Social Sciences 1
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 96064
USA
