Research Activities and Interests:

• Evolution of human skin and skin pigmentation:  Study of the origin, evolution, and consequences of a functionally naked and pigmented integument in humans, drawing upon anatomical, physiological, paleontological, epidemiological, and environmental data.  Related to this is research on the evolution of vitamin D requirements and metabolism in relation to human migrations and urbanization.
• Primate evolution, with emphasis on the evolution of primate lineages in relation to environmental change:  Illumination of the history of adaptation, and the relationship between environmental change and the evolution of life histories and diet in Old World primate lineages, especially monkeys, apes, and humans.  Studies of the evolution and biogeography of Old World monkeys drawing upon field and laboratory work.
• Mammalian paleoecology in the late Tertiary and Quaternary:  Examination of the history of mammalian herbivores – especially primates – in relation to changes in local and global environments, and the differential evolution of brains, jaws, teeth, guts, and hooves in post-Miocene environments.
• Evolution of hominid bipedalism:  Concentration on the identification of the behaviors which triggered the initial transition to bipedal posture and locomotion in the human lineage, with particular reference to the role of bipedal displays and the importance of physical stature.

Fieldwork:

Current:  China (Yunnan)

Courses Taught:

• Primatology (ANTH 405, Fall 2013)
• Bio-Cultural Evolution (ANTH 040H, Spring 2014)
• Skin (ANTH 497, Fall 2014)

Selected Publications:

Books:

• Jablonski, N.G. (2012)  Living Color:  The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color. Berkeley, University of California Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (2006) Skin:  A Natural History.  Berkeley, University of California Press.  (Translated into Korean in 2011.)

Peer-reviewed journal articles:

• Cuthill, I. C., Allen, W. L., Arbuckle, K., Caspers, B., Chaplin, G., Hauber, M. E., . . . Caro, T. (2017). The biology of color. Science, 357(6350). doi:10.1126/science.aan0221
  
• Jablonski, N. G., & Chaplin, G. (2017). The colours of humanity: The evolution of pigmentation in the human lineage. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1724). doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0349
• Bushman, B. J., Newman, K., Calvert, S. L., Downey, G., Dredze, M., Gottfredson, M., Jablonski, N. G., et.al. (2016). Youth violence: What we know and what we need to know. American Psychologist, 71(1), 17-39. doi:10.1037/a0039687
• Coussens, A. K., Naude, C. E., Goliath, R., Chaplin, G., Wilkinson, R.J., and Jablonski, N. G. (2015). High-dose vitamin D3 reduces deficiency caused by low UVB exposure and limits HIV-1 replication in urban Southern Africans. PNAS, 112(26), 8052-8057. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500909112
• Chaplin, G., Jablonski, N.G., Sussman, R.W. & Kelley, E.A. (2014) The role of piloerection in primate thermoregulation.  Folia Primatologica, 85(1), 1-14. doi: 10.1159/000355007
• Jablonski, N.G., and Chaplin, G. (2013) Epidermal pigmentation in the human lineage is an adaptation to ultraviolet radiation. Journal of Human Evolution, 65(5), 671-675. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.06.004
• Swiatoniowski, A.K., Quillen, E., Shriver, M.D., & Jablonski, N.G. (2013) Comparing von Luschan skin color tiles and modern spectrophotometry for measuring human skin pigmentation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 151(2), 325-330. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22274.
• Cerling, T.E., Chritz, K.L. Jablonski, N.G., Leakey, M.G., & Manthi, F.K. (2013) Diet of Theropithecus from 4 to 1 Ma in Kenya. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(26), 10507-10512. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1222571110
• Ji, X., Jablonski, N.G., Su, D.F., Flynn, L.J., You, Y., & Kelley, J. (2013) Juvenile hominoid cranium from the terminal Miocene of Yunnan, China. Chinese Science Bulletin, 58(31), 3771-3779. doi: 10.1007/s11434-013-6021-x
• Jablonski, N.G. (2012) Human skin pigmentation as an example of adaptive evolution.  Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 156(1), 45-57.
• Liedigk, R., Yang, M., Jablonski N.G., Momberg, F., Geissmann, T, et al. (2012) Evolutionary history of the odd-nosed monkeys and the phylogenetic position of the newly described Myanmar Snub-Nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus strykeri. PloS one, 7(5), e37418. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037418
• Jablonski, N.G. (2012) The evolution of human skin colouration and its relevance to health in the modern world. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 42, 58-63. doi: 10.4997/JRCPE.2012.114
• Jablonski, N.G. & Chaplin, G. (2012) Human skin pigmentation, migration, and disease susceptibility. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1590), 785-792. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0308
• Jablonski, N.G., Ji, X., Liu, H., Li, Z., Flynn, L.J., & Li, Z. (2011)  Remains of Holocene giant pandas from Jiangdong Mountain (Yunnan, China) and their relevance to the evolution of quaternary environments in south-western China. Historical Biology, 1-10. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2011.640400
• Jablonski, N.G. & Chaplin, G. (2010) Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(Supplement 2), 8962-8968. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0914628107
• Jablonski, N.G. (2010) Skin coloration. In M. I. Muehlenbein (Ed.), Human Evolutionary Biology (pp. 192-213). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. and Frost, S.  (2010)  Cercopithecoidea. In L. Werdelin & W. J. Sanders (Eds.), Cenozoic Mammals of Africa (pp. 393-428). Berkeley, CA: University of California.
• Su, D. F., & Jablonski, N.G. (2009)  Locomotor behavior and skeletal morphology of the odd-nosed monkeys. Folia Primatologica, 80, 189-219. doi: 10.1159/000240967
• Chaplin, G. and Jablonski, N.G. (2009) Vitamin D and the evolution of human depigmentation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 139(4), 451-461. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21079
• Jablonski, N.G. & Chaplin, G. (2009) The fossil record of gibbons. In S. Lappan & D. J. Whittaker (Eds.), The Gibbons: New Perspectives on Small Ape Socioecology and Population Biology (pp. 111-130). New York: Springer.
• Jablonski, N.G. & Leakey, M. G. (Eds.). (2008). Koobi Fora Research Project: The Fossil Monkeys (Vol. 6). San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences. 467 pages, plus CDR with fully searchable complete text, and appendices with extra measurements and images.
• Jablonski, N.G. & Leakey, M. G. (2008). The importance of the Cercopithicoidea from the Koobi Fora formation in the context of primate and mammalian evolution. In N. G. Jablonski & M. G. Leakey (Eds.), Koobi Fora Research Project: The Fossil Monkeys (Vol. 6, pp. 397-416). San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences.
• McBrearty, S. & Jablonski, N.G. (2005) First fossil chimpanzee. Nature, 437(7055), 105-108. doi: 10.1038/nature04008
• Jablonski, N.G. (2005) Primate diversity and environmental seasonality in historical perspective. In D. K. Brockman & C. P. van Schaik (Eds.), Primate Seasonality (pp. 465 - 488). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (2004) The evolution of human skin and skin color. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 585-623. doi: 10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143955
• 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. Quaternary International, 117(1), 119-123. doi: 10.1016/S1040-6182(03)00121-6
• Jablonski, N.G. (2003) The evolution of the tarsiid niche. In P. C. Wright, E. L. Simons & S. Gursky (Eds.), Tarsiers:  Past, Present, and Future (pp. 35-49). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (2002) Fossil Old World monkeys: The late Neogene radiation. In W. C. Hartwig (Ed.), The Primate Fossil Record (pp. 255-299). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G., Leakey, M.G., Kiarie, C. & Antón, M. (2002) A new skeleton of Theropithecus brumpti (Primates:  Cercopithecidae) from Lomekwi, West Turkana, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution, 43(6), 887-923. doi: 10.1006/jhev.2002.0607
• Jablonski, N.G., (Ed.). (2002). The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World. San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences.
• Jablonski, N.G., Chaplin, G., & McNamara, K.J. (2001) Natural selection and the evolution of hominid patterns of growth and development. In N. Minugh-Purvis & K. J. McNamara (Eds.), Human Evolution through Developmental Change (pp. 189-206). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G., Whitfort, M. J., Roberts-Smith, N. & Xu, Q.-Q. (2000) The influence of life history and diet on the distribution of catarrhine primates during the Pleistocene in eastern Asia.  Journal of Human Evolution, 39(2), 131-157. doi: 10.1006/jhev.2000.0405
• Jablonski, N.G. & Chaplin, G. (2000) The evolution of human skin coloration.  Journal of Human Evolution, 39(1), 57-106. doi: 10.1006/jhev.2000.0403
• Jablonski, N.G. (1998) The evolution of the doucs and snub-nosed monkeys and the question of the phyletic unity of the odd-nosed colobines. In N. G. Jablonski (Ed.), The Natural History of the Doucs and Snub-nosed Monkeys (pp. 13-52). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co.
• Jablonski, N.G. & Aiello, L. E. (Eds.). (1998). The Origin and Diversification of Language (Vol. No. 24). San Francisco, CA: California Academy of Sciences.
• Chaplin, G. and Jablonski, N.G. (1998) Hemispheric difference in skin color.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 107(2), 221-224. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199810)107:2<221::AID-AJPA8>3.0.CO;2-X
• Jablonski, N.G. (1995) The phyletic position and systematics of the douc langurs of southeast Asia. American Journal of Primatology, 35(3), 185-205. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1350350303
• Jablonski, N.G. (1994) Convergent evolution in the dentitions of grazing macropodine marsupials and the grass-eating cercopithecine primate Theropithecus gelada. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 77, 37-43.
• Jablonski, N.G. (1994) New fossil cercopithecid remains from the Humpata Plateau, southern Angola. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 94(4), 435-464. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.1330940402
• Chaplin, G., Jablonski, N.G., & Cable, N.T. (1994) Physiology, thermoregulation and bipedalism. Journal of Human Evolution, 27(6), 497-510. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1994.1066
• Jablonski, N.G. & Crompton, R.H. (1994) Feeding behavior, mastication, and tooth wear in the western tarsier, (Tarsius bancanus). International Journal of Primatology, 15(1), 29-59. doi: 10.1007/BF02735233
• Jablonski, N.G., (Ed.). (1993). Theropithecus: The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (1993) The evolution of the masticatory apparatus in Theropithecus. In N. G. Jablonski (Ed.), Theropithecus: The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus (pp. 299-329). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (1993) The phylogeny of Theropithecus. In N. G. Jablonski (Ed.), Theropithecus: The Rise and Fall of a Primate Genus (pp. 209-224). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Jablonski, N.G. (1993) Quaternary environments and the evolution of primates in Eurasia, with notes on two new specimens of fossil Cercopithecidae from China.  Folia Primatologica, 60(1-2), 118-132. doi: 10.1159/000156681
• Jablonski, N.G. & Chaplin, G. (1993) Origin of habitual terrestrial bipedalism in the ancestor of the Hominidae. Journal of Human Evolution, 24(4), 259-280. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1993.1021
• Jablonski, N.G. and Peng, Y.Z. (1993) The phylogentic relationships and classification of the doucs and snub-nosed langurs of China and Vietnam. Folia Primatologica, 60(1-2), 36-55. doi: 10.1159/000156674
• Jablonski, N.G. & Gu, Y.-M. (1991)  A reassessment of Megamacaca lantianensis, a large monkey from the Pleistocene of north-central China. Journal of Human Evolution, 20(1), 51-66. doi: 10.1016/0047-2484(91)90045-W
• Jablonski, N.G. (1986) The hand of Theropithecus brumpti. In J. G. Else & P. C. Lee (Eds.), Primate Evolution (Vol. Volume 1, pp. 173-182). Cambridge, UK: Cambrige University Press.

Selected Presentations and Interviews:

• WAMC --- Academic Minute --- 2/7/2013 --- Evolution and Skin Color
• National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research --- 2/4/2013 --- Research Spotlight: Nina Jablonski
• WAMC --- The Roundtable --- 10/16/2012 --- Living Color
• NPR --- The Tavis Smiley Show --- 9/28/2012 --- Living Color
• TED Presentation -- 2/09 --- Nina Jablonski Breaks the Illusion of Skin Color
• NPR --- Morning Edition ---2/2/09 --- Your Family May Once Have Been A Different Color (interview by Robert Krulwich)
• Pop!Tech --- Pop!Cast –- 10/07--- Primates in Touch
• NPR --- Weekend Edition Saturday --- 3/3/07 --- Finding the Beauty in ‘Skin: A Natural History’ (interview by Lynn Neary)
• The Colbert Report --- 2/28/07 (hosted by Stephen Colbert) --- Stephen walks anthropologist Nina Jablonski through his skin care regimen.