Roberta Salmi

My research goals are to understand proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying primate communication, cognition, and sociality, and to advance primate conservation. My current work on animal communication aims to advance our understanding of how dominance style relates to vocal usage and evolution. I focus on constraints and flexibility in structure and function of vocal signals, the selective forces that shape them and the cognitive abilities behind their use by assessing the function of other gorilla vocalizations and by exploring the flexibility of gorilla vocal behavior in the context of interspecies communication at the Zoo Atlanta. In collaboration with other researchers, our work in Sri Lanka analyzes mixed species associations and presents the first observational data supporting natural hybridization between critically endangered and threatened primate species. Further collaborative research efforts in Brazil highlights the importance of conservation of land features to the survival of threatened primate species.