Department of Anthropology

Penn State University

Nina G. Jablonski

Professor and Head of Department of Anthropology

Faculty Image Office: 409 Carpenter Building
Telephone: (814) 865-2509
Email: ngj2@psu.edu
Curriculum Vitae
 

Go to Nina's Lab here

EDUCATION:

  • 1975   A.B., Bryn Mawr College (Biology)
  • 1978   Ph.C., University of Washington (Anthropology)
  • 1981   Ph.D., University of Washington (Anthropology);            Thesis: Functional Analysis of the Masticatory Apparatus of Theropithecus gelada (Primates: Cercopithecidae) 

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS:

  • Primate evolution, with particular emphasis on the systematics and evolution of Old World monkeys:  Primary descriptions and functional anatomical analyses of fossils from eastern Africa and east Asia; use of cladistic methodology to infer phylogenetic relationships of living and fossil species; study of the evolution of life histories, the origin and evolution of adaptations, and the causes of extinction, especially in relation to environmental change.

    Evolution of primate lineages in relation to environmental change:  Concentration on the illumination of the history of adaptation in primates, and the relationship between environmental change and the evolutionary trajectories of all Old World primate lineages, including those of tarsiers, monkeys, apes, and humans.

    Mammalian paleoecology in the late Tertiary and Quaternary of East Asia:  Examination of the history of diverse lineages of mammals in relation to changes in local and global environments, and assessment of the impact of humans at different periods on mammalian faunas.

    Evolution of human skin coloration:  Study of the origin and evolution of a functionally naked and pigmented integument in humans, drawing upon environmental, anatomical, physiological, paleontological, and epidemiological data.

    Evolution of hominid bipedalism:  Concentration on the identification of the behaviors which triggered the initial transition to bipedal posture and locomotionin the human lineage, with particular reference to the role of bipedal displays; involves utilization of the tools of historical morphology to identify relevant anatomical behavioral complexes within clades. 

FIELDWORK:

China Yunnan, Kenya, Nepal

COURSES TAUGHT:

Upcoming Primate Evolution

RECENT PUBLICATIONS :

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS :

  • Jablonski, N.G. (2006) Skin: A Natural History. Berkeley, University of California Press.
  • McBrearty, S. and Jablonski, N.G. (2005) First fossil chimpanzee. Nature. 437:105‐108.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (2005) Primate diversity and environmental seasonality in historical perspective. In: D. Brockman and C. van Schaik, eds., Primate Seasonality, pp. 465‐488, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Ghiselin, M. G., eds. (2005) Biodiversity and Taxonomy. Proceedings of the CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences. Volume 56, Supplement I, 236 pages.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (2004) The evolution of human skin and skin coloration. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33:585‐623.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (2004) The hippo’s tale: How the anatomy, physiology and dietary preference of Late Neogene Hexaprotodon shed light on Late Neogene environmental change. Quat. Int. 117:119‐124.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (2003) The evolution of the tarsiid niche. In: Wright, P.C., Simons, E.L., and Gursky, S., eds. Tarsiers: Past, Present and Future. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, pp. 35‐49.
  • Jablonski, N.G., Leakey, M.G., Kiarie, C. and Antón, M. (2002) A new skeleton of Theropithecus brumpti (Primates: Cercopithecidae) from Lomekwi, West Turkana, Kenya. J. Hum. Evol. 43:887‐923.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (2002) The fossil record of Old World monkeys: The late Neogene radiation. In: W. Hartwig, ed. The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press, pp. 255‐299.
  • Jablonski, N.G., ed. (2002) The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World, Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 27.
  • Jablonski, N.G., Chaplin, G., and McNamara, K.J. (2001) Natural selection and the evolution of hominid patterns of growth and development. In: Minugh‐Purvis, N. and McNamara, K.J., eds. Human Evolution through Developmental Change. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 189‐206.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Chaplin, G. (2000) The evolution of human skin coloration. J. Hum. Evol. 39:57‐106.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1998) The evolution of the doucs and snub‐nosed monkeys and the question of the phyletic unity of the odd‐nosed monkeys. In: Jablonski, N.G. (ed.) The Natural History of the Doucs and Snub‐nosed Monkeys, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co., pp. 13‐52.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1998) The response of catarrhine primates to Pleistocene environmental fluctuations in East Asia. Primates 39:29‐37.
  • Jablonski, N.G., ed. (1998) The Natural History of the Doucs and Snub‐nosed Monkeys. World Scientific Publishing Company.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Aiello, L.E., eds. (1998) The Origin and Diversification of Language. Memoirs of the CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences, No. 24.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1995) The phyletic position and systematics of the douc langurs of southeast Asia. Amer. J. Primatol. 35:185‐205.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1994) New fossil cercopithecid remains from the Humpata Plateau, southern Angola. Amer. J. Phys. Anthropol. 94:435‐464.
  • Chaplin, G., Jablonski, N.G., and Cable, N.T. (1994) Physiology, thermoregulation and bipedalism. J. Hum. Evol. 27:497‐510.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Crompton, R.H. (1994) Feeding behavior, mastication, and tooth wear in the western tarsier, Tarsius bancanus. Int. J. Primatol. 15:29‐59.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1993) Muzzle length and heat loss. Nature 66:216‐217.
  • Jablonski, N.G. (1993) The phylogeny of Theropithecus. In: Jablonski, N.G. (Ed.), Theropithecus: The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 209‐224.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Chaplin, G. (1993) Origin of habitual terrestrial bipedalism in the ancestor of the Hominidae. J. Hum. Evol. 24:259‐280.
  • Jablonski, N.G. and Peng, Y.Z. (1993) The phylogeny and classification of the doucs and snub‐nosed langurs of China and Vietnam. Fol. Primatol. 60:36‐55.
  • Jablonski, N.G., ed. (1993) Theropithecus: The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus. Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press.
  • Eck, G.G. and Jablonski, N.G. (1987) The skull of Theropithecus brumpti as compared with those of other species of the genus Theropithecus. Les Faunes Plio‐Pleistocenes de la Basse Vallee de lʹOmo (Ethiopie). Tome 3. Cercopithecidae de la Formation de Shungura. Paris, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, pp. 12‐122.
  • Eck, G.G. and Jablonski, N.G. (1984) A reassessment of the taxonomic status and phyletic relationships of Papio baringensis and Papio quadratirostris (Primates: Cercopithecidae). Am. J. Phys. Anthrop. 65(2):109‐134.