Dr Alison Fletcher
Reader Biological Sciences
Alison is a Reader in Animal Behaviour in the School of Natural Sciences at University of Chester.
Her academic background is in Biology & Psychology (BSc Stirling), and Zoology (PhD Bristol) and she joined the University of Chester in 1999, following Research Fellow positions at University of York and Miami University, Ohio.
Alison's teaching focus is in the field of Animal Behaviour, with particular interests in Animal Cognition and Behavioural Ecology. She is involved in teaching at all levels of undergraduate provision as well as at postgraduate level, including supervision of MSc, MRes and PhD students.
Alison is behavioural ecologist whose research background is in immature behavioural development and maternal investment in gorillas. With her focus and experience in primatology, she has also been involved in research on laterality of function in captive chimpanzees in addition to male social behaviour and relationships in golden monkeys of Rwanda.
She has more recently broadened her focus to include human-wildlife interactions, including crop foraging in golden monkeys, which involves exploring human attitudes and behaviour alongside the importance of community conservation initiatives. Alison also has had a long-term interest in animal cognition research.
Boulton, R. A. and Fletcher, A. W. (2015), Do mothers prefer helpers or smaller litters? Birth sex ratio and litter size adjustment in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Ecology and Evolution.
Eckardt, W., Steklis, H.D., Steklis, N.G., Fletcher, A.W., Stoinski, T.S., and Weiss, A. (in press). Personality dimensions and their behavioral correlates in wild Virunga mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). Journal of Comparative Psychology.
Hutchinson, J.E. & Fletcher, A.W. (2010). Using behavior to determine immature life-stages in captive western gorillas. American Journal of Primatology, 72(6):492-501.
Nowell, A.A. & Fletcher, A.W. (2008). The development of feeding behaviour in wild western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Behaviour, 145(2): 171-193.
Nowell, A.A. & Fletcher, A.W. (2007). The development of independence from the mother in wild western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). International Journal of Primatology, 28(2): 441-455.
Fletcher, A.W. (2006). Clapping in chimpanzees: evidence of exclusive hand preference in a spontaneous, bimanual gesture. American Journal of Primatology, 68(11): 1405-1412.
Nowell, A.A. & Fletcher, A.W. (2006). Food transfers in immature wild western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Primates, 47(4): 294-299.
Fletcher, A.W. & Weghorst, J.A. (2005). Laterality of hand function in naturalistically-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Laterality: 10:219-242.
Fletcher, A. (2001). Development of infant independence from the mother in wild mountain gorillas. In Robbins, M.M., Sicotte, P. & Stewart, K.J. (Eds.). Mountain Gorillas: Three Decades of Research at Karisoke. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 153-182.
- BSc (Hons), University of Stirling
- PhD University of Bristol