Dr. JANETTE WALLIS

Dr. Janette Wallis

Associate Professor; Coordinator of the Natural and Physical Sciences Unit Coordinator of the Conservation Biology Program AUN
School of Arts and Sciences

E-Mail: janettewallis@sbcglobal.net

Educational Background:

• Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Planned Program (combining zoology, anthropology, and psychology), University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Janette Wallis is a researcher, writer, consultant, and analyst of primate behavior and conservation whose primary focus is on African environments. She is Director of the Kasokwa Forest Project (Uganda) and Primate Specialist for the Ngel Nyaki Montane Forest Project (Nigeria).  She has lived and worked in a number of African countries and has been the principal or co-investigator on several projects, including some funded by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Society of Primatologists. She teaches courses in zoology, ecology, conservation biology, and biological research methods.

Previous Posts:

• Affiliate Associate Professor – Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma. (formerly, Adjunct Assistant Professor).
• Adjunct Associate Professor – Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma.
• Collaborating Scientist – Budongo Forest Project, Uganda (collaborator, V. Reynolds, Oxford)
• Adjunct Associate Professor - Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, UK.
• Consultant – Conservation International, Inc. (for study of economic impact of primate research/tourism)
• Consultant – Nippon Koei, UK (for project in Sierra Leone), funded by the World Bank.
• Visiting Professor, Universidad Nacional de Guinea Equatorial (Equatorial Guinea, Africa/Arcadia Univ)
• Associate Professor of Research – Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
• Independent Consultant - including conservation programs, primate behavior projects, grant proposal preparation, fund-raising, and animal well-being.
• Assistant Professor - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Univ of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
• Director of Chimpanzee Research, Gombe Stream Research Centre, Kigoma, Tanzania, East Africa (collaborator, J. Goodall).
• Adjunct Assistant Professor - Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma.
• Director of Programs - Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy;
• State Coordinator, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies.
• Central Region Coordinator - Child and Adolescent Service Systems Program, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health.
• Graduate Research Assistant - School of Human Development, University of Oklahoma.
• Research Specialist II - School of Human Development, University of Oklahoma.
• Research Associate - Centre International de Recherches Médicales, Franceville, Gabon, Africa.

Selected Publications:

• Mosteller EA, Wallis J, Schnell GD. Adolescent infertility duration in captive olive baboons (Papio hamadryas anubis): behavioral and demographic characteristics from puberty through primagravidity. American Journal of Primatology, submitted.
• Chepstow-Lusty A, Winfield M, Wallis J, Collins A. The importance of local tree resources around Gombe National Park, Western Tanzania: implications for humans and chimpanzees. Ambio, in press.
• Formenty P, Karesh W, Froment JM, Wallis J. Infectious diseases in West Africa: A common threat to chimpanzees and humans. In: West African Chimpanzees. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. Kormos R, Boesch C, Bakarr MI, & Butynski T, eds. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. p 169-174, 2003.
• Wallis J. Seasonal aspects of reproduction and sexual behavior in two chimpanzee populations: A comparison of Gombe (Tanzania) and Budongo (Uganda). In Behavioral Diverstiy of Chimpanzees and Bonobos, C. Boesch, G. Hohmann, & L. Marchant, eds.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. p 181-191, 2002
• Wallis J, Lee DR.  Primate conservation: Prevention of disease transmission. International Journal of Primatology, 20(6): 803-826, 1999.
• Wallis J.  A survey of reproductive parameters in the free-ranging chimpanzees of Gombe National Park. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 109:297-307, 1997.

Research Interests:

• Her research interests include behavioral ecology and reproductive biology of primates, with a special focus on chimpanzees, baboons, and guenons.  She currently has field sites in Uganda and Nigeria.  More broadly, she concentrates on the conservation of wildlife (especially primates) and wild lands.  This involves a focus on conservation education – both at a community level and within a higher education framework.

Selected Affiliations:

• Board of Directors – Society for Conservation Biology-Africa Section
• Editor – African Conservation Telegraph (newsletter for Society for Conservation Biology- Africa Section
• Vice President for Conservation – International Primatological Society
• Executive Board – Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
• Member – IUCN Species Survival Commission: Primate Specialist Group – Section on Great Apes
• Primate Specialist – Ngel Nyaki Forest Project (Nigeria)
• Executive Director – Kasokwa Forest Project (Uganda)
• Managing Editor – Budongo Forest Research Station newsletter (Uganda)

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