CICASP | Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology

Research

Broadly interested in the drivers of social structure, I am mainly investigating information and infectious agent transmission in animal societies (e.g. New- and Old-World primates and fruit flies). My academic background includes a combination of empirical (e.g. behavioural data observation and experiments) and theoretical (e.g. agent-based models) approaches in behavioural and evolutionary ecology.

Background

Sep 2017          Ph.D. in Ecology and Animal Behavior. Université de Strasbourg – France.  

Jun 2013          Master in Ecology and Natural Resources. University of North Fluminense (UENF), Rio de Janeiro – Brazil.

Jun 2011          BSc. in Biology. Concentration: Environmental Science. University of North Fluminense (UENF), Rio de Janeiro – Brazil.

Current Projects

Nov 2017 - present. “Understanding the link between environmental pressures, sociality and health”. Collaborator at CICASP: Andrew MacIntosh.

Selected Publications

• Romano V, Martins A, Ruiz-Miranda C. Accepted. Unravelling the dispersal patterns and the social drivers of natal emigration of a cooperative breeding mammal, the golden lion tamarin. American Journal of Primatology.

• Romano V, Shen M, Pansanel J, MacIntosh AJJ, Sueur C. 2018. Social transmission in networks: global efficiency peaks with intermediate levels of modularity. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 72: 154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2564-9

• Sueur C, Romano V, Sosa S, Puga-Gonzalez I. 2018. Mechanisms of network evolution: a focus on socioecological factors, intermediary mechanisms, and selection pressures. Primates. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-018-0682-7

• Romano V. 2017. Social networks as trade-off between optimal information transmission and reduced pathogen transmission. Dissertation. Université de Strasbourg. 

• Duboscq J, Romano V, Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ. 2017. One step at a time in investigating relationships between self-directed behaviors and parasitological, social and environmental variables. Royal Society Open Science. 4(8):170461 (doi:10.1098/rsos.170461).

• Romano V, Duboscq J, Sarabian C, Thomas E, Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ. 2016. Modelling infection transmission in primate networks to predict centrality-based risk. American Journal of Primatology. 78:767-779 (doi:10.1098/rsos.170461).

• Duboscq J, Romano V, Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ. 2016. Network centrality and seasonality interact to predict lice load in a social primate. Scientific Reports. 6:22095 (doi: 10.1038/srep22095).

• Duboscq J, Romano V, Sueur C, MacIntosh AJJ. 2016. Scratch that itch: revisiting links between self-directed behaviour and parasitological, social and environmental factors in a free-ranging primate. Royal Society Open Science. 3:160571 (doi:10.1098/rsos.160571). 

• Duboscq J, Romano V, MacIntosh AJJ, Sueur C. 2016. Social information transmission in animals: Lessons from studies of diffusion. Frontiers in Psychology. 7:1147 (doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01147).

Book chapters:

• Duboscq J, Romano V, MacIntosh AJJ. 2019. Social behavior and infectious disease. In: Choe, J.C. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, (2nd ed.). vol. 4, pp. 790–800. Elsevier, Academic Press.

• Caselli C, Romano V., Ruiz-Miranda CR., Grassetto R. 2018. Voces de los primatas neotropicales: ¿suena bien? In: La primatología en Latinoamérica 2 – A primatologia na América Latina 2. (English translation: “The voices of Neotropical primates: sounds good?” In: Primatology in Latin America 2”.)

Published abstracts in scientific journals:

• Romano V., Sueur C. MacIntosh AJJ. In press. Predicting pathogen transmission in primate networks. Primates.

• Duboscq J., Romano V., Sueur C., MacIntosh AJJ. Investigating infection risk and sociality: centrality interacts with seasonality to predict lice-load in free-ranging female Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata. American Journal of Primatology. 143-144. 

• Duboscq J., Romano V., Sueur C., MacIntosh AJJ. A social network perspective on macaque social styles. American Journal of Primatology. 42.

• MacIntosh AJJ., Sarabian C, Duboscq J., Thomas E., Romano V., Kaneko A., Okamoto M., Suzumura T. Hidden constraints of chronic parasitism on health and fitness in Japanese macaques. Primate Research Supplement. The 31^st Congress Primate Society of Japan. 103.

Scientific education:

• Romano V & Ruiz-Miranda C. 2014. Should I stay or should I go now? - report of dispersal in reintroduced and wild-born golden lion tamarins. Tamarin Tales. 12:9-10. 

• Ruiz-Miranda C., de Morais-Jr MM., Romano V., Grativol A., Rambaldi DM. 2011. Saguis introduzidos no Rio de Janeiro: vítimas ou vilões? Ciência Hoje. 48:44-49. (English translation: “Introduced marmosets in Rio de Janeiro: victims or villains?).

Selected talks:

• Romano V. 2019. Social networks in primates: from information to pathogen transmission. Science Dialogue Program of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Ena High School. Gifu Prefecture - Japan.

Press

The New York Times - Japanese Monkeys Like to Socialize, Even With Nits to Pick

National Geographic - Popular Female Macaques Have Less Lice

Contact