Karin Isler

Karin Isler is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biology at the University of Zurich. She specializes in evolutionary biology with a focus on brain size evolution, primate locomotion, and the ecological and energetic constraints shaping species' adaptations. Her work integrates comparative analyses across mammals and primates, emphasizing the interplay between brain size, reproductive strategies, and environmental factors.

Dr. Isler's research explores how brain evolution is influenced by factors like energy budgets, cooperative breeding, and seasonality. She has contributed to pivotal studies on the 'fat-brain trade-off' in mammals and the role of manipulation complexity in primate cognitive evolution. Her teaching includes courses like BIO 207: Comparative Systematics and Evolution of Primates.

Her publications span over two decades, with notable contributions to journals like Current Biology, Journal of Human Evolution, and Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Key themes include the evolutionary origins of human hyper-cooperation and the adaptive strategies mitigating energetic constraints on large brains.