Martin Seltmann
PhD
martin.seltmann@utu.fi Vesilinnantie 5 Turku Office: 252 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6060-885X |
Animal personality, anthrozoology (human-animal interactions), behavioural ecology, endocrinology, habitat selection, human-wildlife conflicts, social behaviour, stress physiology
- 2024 – now, Senior Researcher, University of Turku, Finland
- 2024 Title of Docent (habilitation), University of Turku, Finland
- 2023 Researcher, Natural Resources Institute Finland LUKE, Finland
- 2015 – 2023 Postdoctoral researcher, University of Turku, Finland
- 2014 Visiting researcher, Sorbonne Paris North University, France
- 2014 Postdoctoral researcher, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
- 2014 PhD degree, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
- 2010 – 2011 Visiting PhD researcher, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
- 2008 MSc degree, University of Bayreuth, Germany
- 2007 Visiting student, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Austria
I am interested in consistent individual differences in behaviour (personality), social behaviour, stress physiology and more generally endocrinology in a mostly ecological but also in a human-wildlife interaction (anthrozoology) context. Lately, I'v become interested in historical and contemporary human attitudes towards wildlife along the urban-rural gradient and how knowledge on these could help to promote coexistence with wildlife and support community well-being. To address my research questions, I work(ed) on a variety of mammal (e.g., Asian elephant, reindeer, red deer, European rabbit, red fox) and bird (e.g., common eider, barnacle goose) species. I also worked on a historical Finnish population of Finns, studying how kin network characteristics are linked to early childhood surivial.
I have been teaching courses in basics of biostatistics using the software environment R. Furthermore, I have tought the course "Introduction to Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology", regularly contribute to teaching in various courses such as “Biological Research Introductions”, "Project Work in Biology", "Presenting&publishing scientific data biology", and give guest lectures in other courses.
- Arctic migrating barnacle geese utilize accommodation fields in a new agricultural staging area (2025)
- Journal of Applied Ecology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Close and more distant relatives are associated with child mortality risk in historical Finland (2025)
- Evolutionary Human Sciences
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Tusks, testosterone and personality in male Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) (2025)
- Royal Society Open Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Asian elephant calf physiology and mahout perspectives during taming in Myanmar (2024)
- Royal Society Open Science
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Enhancing Stress Assessment in Sledge Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus): A Pilot Study on Infrared Thermal Imaging and its Opportunities for Advancement as a Welfare Assessment Tool (2024)
- Animal Behavior and Cognition
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Hanhipellot ihmisten ja hanhien välisen ristiriidan lievittäjänä (2024) Forsman, Jukka; Jokinen, Mikko; Heikkinen, Juha; Hiedanpää, Juha; Juutinen, Artti; Laaksonen, Toni; Laurila, Marika; Liu, Xing; Piha, Markus; Pellikka, Jani; Salo, Matti; Seimola, Tuomas; Seltmann, Martin; Store, Ron; Ylitalo, Anna-Kaisa
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - First report of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) response to human-given cues (2023)
- Journal of Comparative Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Sata vuotta rusakoita Turussa (2023)
- Turun Sanomat
(E1 Popularised article) - Investigating associations between nematode infection and three measures of sociality in Asian elephants (2022)
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Sex-specific links between the social landscape and faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in semi-captive Asian elephants (2022)
- General and Comparative Endocrinology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Handler familiarity helps to improve working performance during novel situations in semi-captive Asian elephants (2021)
- Scientific Reports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - “How not to judge a deer by its cover”: A personality assessment study on captive adult red deer males (Cervus elaphus) (2021)
- Behavioural Processes
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Influence of handler relationships and experience on health parameters, glucocorticoid responses and behaviour of semi-captive Asian elephants (2021)
- Conservation Physiology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - To be or not to be social? (2021) Seltmann Martin
(E1 Popularised article) - Evaluating the Reliability of Non-Specialist Observers in the Behavioural Assessment of Semi-Captive Asian Elephant Welfare (2020)
- Animals
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites and H/L Ratio are Related Markers of Stress in Semi-Captive Asian Timber Elephants (2020)
- Animals
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Within‑litter covariance of allele‑specific MHC heterozygosity, coccidian endoparasite load and growth is modulated by sibling differences in starting mass (2020)
- Oecologia
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Future Directions for Personality Research: Contributing New Insights to the Understanding of Animal Behavior (2019)
- Animals
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Investigating changes within the handling system of the largest semi-captive population of Asian elephants (2019)
- PLoS ONE
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Males have more aggressive and less sociable personalities than females in semi-captive Asian elephants (2019)
- Scientific Reports
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



