Professor
Education:
B.S. (Honors), California Institute of Technology, 1964
Ph.D., Rockefeller University, 1973
Postdoctoral Work:
Institute for Research in Animal Behavior, N. Y. Zool. Society
Field: Behavioral ecology and ethology; animal communication; interactions between social behavior and abundance and distribution of resources; quantitative methods for field work; conservation biology.
Research Interests:
My research originally centered on the structure of animal communication systems and their evolution. Conducting field studies of monkeys and their vocalizations, I correlated the acoustic structure of vocal signals with the immediate circumstances in which they are given and with their historical context. Such investigations led naturally into exploring the selection pressures and the physiology of communication. The former guided me into comparative field work with other species and habitats (and into theoretical considerations) and the latter into experimental work on auditory perception in collaboration with physiologists and psychologists.
Results of the comparative work induced me to re-focus my field studies on the plasticity of signaling behavior. I have concentrated on how habitat structure and the availability and utilization of food influence the frequency, pattern, and usage of signals. One outcome of these studies has been to build parameters of social organization and resource availability into management schemes for endangered species preserves. I have also initiated experimental work at Monkey Jungle on cooperative strategies in foraging.
While my individual research has been based in the Old World and the laboratory, I have encouraged and advised pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students whose work is on other taxa and is in the New World as well.
Computer Resources:
Department of Biology Computer Newsletter
Representative Publications:
Green, S. 1981. Sex differences and age gradations in vocalizations of Japanese and Lion-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascata and Macaca silenus). Am. Zool. 21: 165-183.
Petersen, M. R., S. R. Zoloth, M. D. Beecher, S. Green, P. R. Marler, D. B. Moody, and W. C. Stebbins. 1984. Neural lateralization of vocalizations by Japanese macaques - Communicative significance is more important than acoustic structure. Behav. Neurosci. 98: 779-790.
Whitesides, G. H., J. F. Oates, S. M. Green, R. P. Kluberdanz. 1988. Estimating primate densities from transects in a West African rain forest: A comparison of techniques. J. Anim. Ecol. 57: 345-367.
Oates, J. F., G. H. Whitesides, A. G. Davies, P. G. Waterman, S. M. Green, G. L. Dasilva, S. Mole. 1990. Determinants of variation in tropical forest primate biomass: New evidence from West Africa. Ecol. 71: 328-343.
