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Nayuta Yamashita

Adjunct Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Contact Information
E-mail: nayutaya@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-1746
Office: GFS 120

LINKS
Personal Website
 

Education
Ph.D. , Northwestern University, 1/1996
B.A. , Rhodes College, 1/1988
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Tenure Track Appointments
Assistant professor, LAS, USC, 2006-  
Assistant professor, Keck School of Medicine, USC, 2000-2006  
 

PostDoctoral Appointments
postdoctoral fellow, University of Hong Kong, 1998-2000  
postdoctoral fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 1997-1998  
 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
My research focuses on diet and feeding ecology of lemurs, a group of primates endemic to Madagascar. Specifically, I focus on mechanical properties of food items, functional morphology of the masticatory apparatus, and feeding behavior.
 

Research Keywords
Primates, Morphology, Madagascar, Lemurs, Diet, Tooth, Behavior, Ecomorphology, Evolution
 

Research Specialties
biological anthropology; lemurs; functional morphology; feeding ecology
 

Funded Research

Contracts and Grants Awarded
Intraspecific variation in primate dental wear: the role of environment and diet (NSF), Frank Cuozzo, Michelle Sauther, Nayuta Yamashita, Peter Ungar, $200,000, 11/01/2009-10/31/2012  
Food resource partitioning among sympatric Hapalemur species in Madagascar (National Science Foundation), Nayuta Yamashita, Christopher Vinyard, Chia Tan, $78,000, 09/01/2005-08/31/2007  
Food resource partitioning among sympatric Hapalemur species in Madagascar (National Geographic Society), Nayuta Yamashita, Christopher Vinyard, Chia Tan, $19,604, 11/18/2002-09/01/2003  
 

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations
"Interannual comparison of food toughness in the diets of a wild Lemur catta population in Beza Mahafaly special reserve, Madagascar", American Association of Physical Anthropology, Poster, Refereed Abstract, Am J Phys Anthropol Suppl. 48, Spring 2009   
"A comparison of gastrointestinal tracts of sympatric Hapalemur species", American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Poster, Refereed Abstract, Am J Phys Anthropol. Supplement 46:226, Spring 2008   
"Cyanide tests of foods and excreta of three Hapalemur species in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar", American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Poster, Refereed Abstract, Am J Phys Anthropol. Supplement 44:253, Spring 2007   
"Relationships between craniodental morphology, behavior, ecology and food properties in strepsirrhine primates ", International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Talk/Oral Presentation, Paris, France, Invited, Spring 2007   
"Do the number of daily jaw loading cycles help explain food resource partitioning among three sympatric species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Pa", American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Talk/Oral Presentation, Abstract, Am J Phys Anthropol. Supplement 42:190, Spring 2006   
 

Other Presentations
"Food properties and jaw performance in three sympatric species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar", Southern California Regional Primate Forum, Los Angeles, CA, Spring 2007   
 

Publications

Book
Lucas, P. W., Osorio, D., Yamashita, N., Prinz, J., Dominy, N. J., Darvell, B. W. (2003). Dietary Analysis I: Food Physics. In Field and Laboratory Methods in Primatology. (Deborah Curtis and Joanna Setchell, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 

Book Chapter
Yamashita, N. (2008). Food physical properties and their relationship to morphology: the curious case of kily. New York: Springer.
Lucas, P. W., Dominy, N. J., Osorio, D., Peterson-Pereira, W., Riba-Hernandez, P., Solis-Madrigal, S., Stoner, K. E., Yamashita, N. (2007). "Perspectives on primate color vision" in Primate Origins: Adaptations and Evolution. New York: Springer.
Cuozzo, F., Yamashita, N. (2006). Impact of ecology on the teeth of extant lemurs: a review of dental adaptations, function, and life history. (Vol. 67-96). New York: Springer Verlag.
Lucas, P. W., Corlett, R. T., Dominy, N. J., Essackjee, H. C., Riba-Hernandez, P., Stoner, K. E., Yamashita, N. (2003). Dietary Analysis II: Food Chemistry. In Field and Laboratory Methods in Primatology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 

Conference Proceeding
Yamashita, N. (2000). Mechanical thresholds as a criterion for food selection in two prosimian primate species. pp. 590-595. Proceedings of the 3rd Plant Biomechanics Conference, Freiburg- Badenweiler, Stuttgart: Thieme Verlag.
 

Journal Article
Yamashita, N., Tan, C. L., Vinyard, C. J., Williams, C. (2009). Semi-quantitative tests of cyanide in foods and excreta of three Hapalemur species in Madagascar. American Journal of Primatology.
Yamashita, N., Vinyard, C. J., Tan, C. L. (2009). Food mechanical properties in three sympatric species of Hapalemur in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 139, pp. 368-381.
Vinyard, C. J., Yamashita, N., Tan, C. L. (2008). Linking laboratory and field approaches in studying the evolutionary physiology of biting in bamboo lemurs. International Journal of Primatology. Vol. 29, pp. 1421-1439.
Yamashita, N. (2008). Chemical properties in the diets of two lemur species in Madagacar. International Journal of Primatology. Vol. 29, pp. 339-364.
Cuozzo, F. P., Sauther, M. L., Yamashita, N., Scott, J. R., Weber, M. A., Lawler, R. R., Brockman, D. K., Godfrey, L. R., Gould, L., Youssouf, I. A., Lent, C., Ratsirarson, J., Richard, A. F., Sussman, R. W., Villers, L. M., Willis, G. (2008). A comparison of salivary pH in sympatric wild lemurs (Lemur catta and Propithecus verreauxi) at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve, Madagascar: investigating feeding ecology, dietary acidity, and primate tooth wear. American Journal of Primatology. Vol. 70, pp. 363-371.
Yamashita, N., Stoner, K., Riba-Hernandez, P., Dominy, N., Lucas, P. (2005). Light levels used during feeding by primate species with different color vision phenotypes. Behav Ecol Sociobiol/Springer. pp. p.618-629.
Lucas, P. W., Dominy, N. J., Riba-Hernandez, P., Stoner, K. E., Yamashita, N., Loría-Calderón, E., Petersen-Pereira, W., Rojas-Durán, Y., Salas-Pena, R., Solis-Madrigal, S., Osorio, D., Darvell, B. W. (2003). Evolution and function of routine trichromatic vision in primates. Evolution. Vol. 57, pp. 2636-2643.
Yamashita, N. (2003). Food procurement and tooth use in two sympatric lemur species. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 121, pp. 125-133.
Yamashita, N. (2002). Diets of two lemur species in different microhabitats in Beza Mahafaly special reserve, Madagascar. International Journal of Primatology. Vol. 23, pp. 1025-1051.
Dominy, N. J., Lucas, P. W., Osorio, D., Yamashita, N. (2001). The sensory ecology of primate food perception. Evolutionary Anthropology. Vol. 10, pp. 171-186.
Lucas, P. W., Beta, T., Darvell, B. W., Dominy, N. J., Essackjee, H., Lee, P. K., Osorio, D., Ramsden, L., Yamashita, N., Yuen, T. D. (2001). Field kit to characterize physical, chemical and spatial aspects of potential primate foods. Folia Primatologica. Vol. 72, pp. 11-25.
Yamashita, N. (1998). Molar morphology and variation in two lemur families (Lemuridae and Indriidae). Journal of Human Evolution. Vol. 35, pp. 137-162.
Yamashita, N. (1998). Functional dental correlates of food properties in five Malagasy lemur species. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Vol. 106, pp. 169-188.
Yamashita, N. (1996). Seasonality and site specificity in mechanical dietary patterns in two families of Malagasy lemur (Lemuridae and Indriidae). International Journal of Primatology. Vol. 17, pp. 355-387.
 

Service to the Profession

Professional Memberships
American Association of Physical Anthropology, 1999-  
 
 
Faculty may update their profile by visiting https://mydornsife.usc.edu.