Andrea Baden

Dr. Andrea Baden is an associate professor and director of the Primate Molecular Ecology Laboratory (PMEL) in the Department of Anthropology at Hunter College. She teaches courses in human evolution, primatology and primate conservation biology. Dr. Baden is also a doctoral faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center Department of Anthropology and is a core faculty member of the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP). She also oversees fieldwork and research for the Ranomafana Ruffed Lemur Project in Madagascar.

As a biological anthropologist with research interests in primate behavior, ecology and evolutionary biology, Dr. Baden addresses research questions using an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach. In this light, she combines traditional fieldwork and laboratory techniques to answer larger evolutionary questions related to primate social and reproductive strategies which she carries through the classroom. Her research primarily focuses on how landscape features—past, present and future—influence patterns of distribution, migration and genetic diversity in wild primate populations; as well as how the resulting patterns of genetic relatedness within populations and groups can help us to explain the evolution and maintenance of complex social behaviors. Dr. Baden’s research has earned her numerous awards including the Feliks Gross Endowment Award for Outstanding Research in the Humanities and Sciences (CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences) as well as a Fulbright Fellowship. Her work has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Primatology, Nature Scientific Reports and Animal Behaviour.

As an educator, Dr. Baden enjoys sharing her knowledge and love of learning with students in hopes that she may also inspire future generations of scientists. Outside of Hunter, she explores passions in travel, culture, and the natural world, as well as art and photography, interests that, together, have been critical to her success in academia. Above all, Dr. Baden is committed to communicating science to youth and instilling a sense of stewardship in future generations of conservationists.

Dr. Baden earned her BA from the University of Miami and received both her MA and PhD from Stony Brook University.

• Yale University (Postdoc)
• Stony Brook University (PhD)
• Stony Brook University (MA)
• University of Miami (BA)

Lead author:

• Baden AL, Oliveras JR*, Gerber BD. 2021. Sex-segregated range use by black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Folia Primatologica 92:12-34.
• Baden AL, Webster TH, Bradley BJ. (2020) “Genetic relatedness cannot explain social preferences in black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata).” Animal Behaviour, 164: 73-82.
• Baden AL, Mancini AN, Federman SF, Holmes SM, Johnson SE, Kamilar JM, Louis EE Jr, Bradley BJ. (2019) “Anthropogenic pressures explain population genetic structure in a Critically Endangered moist forest specialist, Varecia variegata.” Nature Scientific Reports, 9: 16276.
• Baden AL, Webster TH, Kamilar JM. (2016) “Resource seasonality and reproduction predict fission-fusion dynamics in a Malagasy strepsirrhine, Varecia variegata.” American Journal of Primatology, 78(2): 256-279.
• Baden AL, Holmes SM, Johnson SE, Engberg SE, Louis EE Jr, Bradley BJ. (2014) “Species-level view of population structure and gene flow for a critically endangered primate (Varecia variegata).” Ecology and Evolution, 4(13): 2675-2692.
• Baden AL, Wright PC, Louis EE Jr, Bradley BJ. 2013. “Communal nesting, kinship, and maternal success in a social primate.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 67: 1939-1950.

Senior author:

• 1. McManus N*, Holmes SM, Louis EE Jr, Johnson SE, Baden AL¥, Amato KR¥. 2021. The gut microbiome as an indicator of habitat disturbance in a Critically Endangered lemur. BMC Ecology and Evolution. 21: 222.
• Westphal D, Mancini AN, Baden AL. (2021) “Primates landscape genetics: A review and practical guide.” Evolutionary Anthropology. doi.org/10.1002/evan.21891
• Morelli TL, Smith AB, Mancini AN, Balko EA, Borgerson C, Dolch R, Farris Z, Federman S, Holmes S, Irwin M, Jacobs RL, Johnson SE, King T, Lehman S, Louis EE Jr., Murphy A, Ratolojanahary TH, Ratsimbazafy J, Razafindratsima O, Baden AL. (2020) “The fate of Madagascar’s rainforest habitat.” Nature Climate Change 10, 89-96.
• Federman S, Dornburg A, Daly DC, Downie A, Yoder AD, Sargis EJ, Perry GH, Donoghue MJ, Richard A, Baden AL. (2016) “Implications of lemuriform extinctions for Malagasy flora.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(18), 5041-5046.

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