Kenneth B. Armitage (Emeritus)
Professor Emeritus
Behavioral Ecology
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Phone: (785) 864-3236
Fax: (785) 864-5431
Area of Interest and Research
Research Program
* Social biology of the yellow-bellied marmot
* Biodiversity of marmots
* Life history strategies of ground-dwelling sciurids
Current Research
* Energetics of hibernation
* Population biology of marmots
Representative Publications
Armitage, K. B., D. H. Van Vuren, A. Ozgul, and M. K. Oli. 2011. Proximate causes of dispersal in female yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventris. Ecology 92:218-227.
Armitage, K. B. 2010. Individual fitness, social behavior, and population dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots. Pp. 134-155 In The Ecology of Place, I. Billick and M. K. Price, eds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ozgul, A., D. Z. Childs, M. K. Oli, K. B. Armitage, D. T. Blumstein, L. E Olson, S. Tuljpurkar, and T. Coulson. 2010. Coupled dynamics of body mass and population growth in response to environmental change. Nature 466:482-485.
Ozgul, A., M. K. Oli, K. B. Armitage, D. T. Blumstein and D. H. Van Vuren. 2009. Influence of local demography on asymptotic and transient dynamics of a yellow-bellied marmot metapopulation. The American Naturalist 173:517–530.
Armitage, K. B. 2008. Phylogeny and patterns of energy conservation in marmots. Pages 591–602 In S. Morris & A. Vosloo, eds. 4th CPB Meeting In Africa: Mara 2008. Molecules to Migration: The Pressures of Life. Medimond Publishing, Bologna.
Oli, M. K. and K. B. Armitage. 2008. Indirect fitness benefits do not compensate for the loss of direct fitness in yellow-bellied marmots. Journal of Mammalogy 89:874–881.
Armitage, K. B. 2007. Evolution of sociality in marmots: it begins with
hibernation. Pp. 356-367 In J.O. Wolff & P. W. Sherman, eds. Rodent
Societies: An Ecological & Evolutionary Perspective. The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Ozgul, A., K. B. Armitage, D. T. Blumstein & M. K. Oli. 2006.
Spatiotemporal variation in survival rates: implications for population
dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots. Ecology 87:1027-1037.
Armitage, K. B. 2005. Intraspecific variation in marmots. Pp. 39-48 In V. Sanchez-Cordero & R. A. Medellin, eds. Contribuciones Mastozoologicas En Homenaje A Bernardo Villa. Instituto de Biologia, UNAM; Instituto de Ecologia, UNAM; CONABIO, Mexico.
Oli, M. K. & K. B. Armitage. 2004. Yellow-bellied marmot population dynamics: demographic mechanisms of growth and decline. Ecology 85:2446-2455.
Oli, M. K. & K. B. Armitage. 2003. Sociality and individual fitness in
yellow-bellied marmots: insights from a long-term study (1962-2001).
Oecologia 136:543-550.
Armitage, K. B. 2003. Marmots. Marmota monax and Allies. Pp. 188-210 In Wild Mammals of North America. Biology, Management, and Conservation, G. A. Feldhamer, B. C. Thompson, And J. A. Chapman, eds. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Armitage, K. B. & O. A. Schwartz. 2000. Social enhancement of fitness in yellow-bellied marmots. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97:12149-12152


