Rebecca M. Stumpf

About

Rebecca M. Stumpf is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Illinois College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Her research interests include host-microbial diversity and interactions, evolution, emerging diseases and transmission patterns, antimicrobial resistance distribution, primate comparative biology, behavioral ecology and ontogeny, reproductive and sexual behavior and evolution, behavioral endocrinology, and conservation. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropological Sciences from Stony Brook University and an M.A. in the same field from the same institution, as well as a B.A. from Oberlin College. Throughout her career, Dr. Stumpf has contributed significantly to understanding microbiomes, pathogen transmission, and primate biology, with numerous funded projects including studies on primate pathogens in Uganda, antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of environmental changes on primate health. She has been recognized with awards such as the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and has been promoted to Full Professor with distinction. Her work integrates microbiology, anthropology, and conservation, and she is actively involved in teaching courses related to human origins, primate behavior, and biological anthropology.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Evolutionary biology
• Genetics
• Neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Geography

Selected publications

• Evolutionary trends in host physiology outweigh dietary niche in structuring primate gut microbiomes

  The ISME Journal · 2018-07-11 · 395 citations

  articleOpen access

  Over the past decade several studies have reported that the gut microbiomes of mammals with similar dietary niches exhibit similar compositional and functional traits. However, these studies rely heavily on samples from captive individuals and often confound host phylogeny, gut morphology, and diet. To more explicitly test the influence of host dietary niche on the mammalian gut microbiome we use 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics to compare the gut microbiota of 18 speci…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The gut microbiome of nonhuman primates: Lessons in ecology and evolution

  American Journal of Primatology · 2018-06-01 · 159 citations

  review

  The mammalian gastrointestinal (GI) tract is home to trillions of bacteria that play a substantial role in host metabolism and immunity. While progress has been made in understanding the role that microbial communities play in human health and disease, much less attention has been given to host‐associated microbiomes in nonhuman primates (NHPs). Here we review past and current research exploring the gut microbiome of NHPs. First, we summarize methods for characterization of the NHP gut microbiom…

  PublisherDOI

• Convergence of human and Old World monkey gut microbiomes demonstrates the importance of human ecology over phylogeny

  Genome biology · 2019-10-07 · 90 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Comparative data from non-human primates provide insight into the processes that shaped the evolution of the human gut microbiome and highlight microbiome traits that differentiate humans from other primates. Here, in an effort to improve our understanding of the human microbiome, we compare gut microbiome composition and functional potential in 14 populations of humans from ten nations and 18 species of wild, non-human primates. RESULTS: Contrary to expectations from host phylogenet…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Plasticity in the Human Gut Microbiome Defies Evolutionary Constraints

  mSphere · 2019-07-30 · 77 citations

  articleOpen access

  The results of this study indicate a discordance between gut microbiome composition and evolutionary history in primates, calling into question previous notions about host genetic control of the primate gut microbiome. Microbiome similarities between humans consuming nonindustrialized diets and monkeys characterized by subsisting on eclectic, omnivorous diets also raise questions about the ecological and nutritional drivers shaping the human gut microbiome. Moreover, a more detailed understandin…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Biodiversity of protists and nematodes in the wild nonhuman primate gut

  The ISME Journal · 2019-11-12 · 73 citations

  articleOpen access

  Documenting the natural diversity of eukaryotic organisms in the nonhuman primate (NHP) gut is important for understanding the evolution of the mammalian gut microbiome, its role in digestion, health and disease, and the consequences of anthropogenic change on primate biology and conservation. Despite the ecological significance of gut-associated eukaryotes, little is known about the factors that influence their assembly and diversity in mammals. In this study, we used an 18S rRNA gene fragment…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Microbes, Diet, and Hominin Evolution: Comparative and Metagenomic Approaches

  NSF · $2.4M · 2009–2018

• Female Sociality, Dispersal, and Comparative Microbial Community Composition in Pan troglodytes

  NSF · $376k · 2014–2020

• Comparative Primate Microbial Ecology

  NSF · $300k · 2008–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Steven R. Leigh

  67 shared

• Bryan A. White

  University of Auckland

  36 shared

• Brenda A. Wilson

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  33 shared

• William Nelson

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  33 shared

• Klára J. Petrželková

  Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Biology

  30 shared

• David Modrý

  Masaryk University

  28 shared

• Katherine R. Amato

  Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

  28 shared

• Carl J. Yeoman

  Montana State University

  26 shared

Labs

• Stumpf LaboratoryPI

  Behavioral, hormone and microbiome studies of wild chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda.

Awards & honors

• Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship, Notre Da…
• Fulbright Specialist Program Faculty (2021-2024)
• Faculty Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study, University of…
• University Scholar: for Excellence in Scholarship, Teaching…
• Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Unive…

Similar researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Stanley H. Ambroseh-57
• Lyle W Konigsbergh-42
• Jessica R. Greenbergh-34