evolution of mammalian body shape

The diversity of body shapes is one of the most prominent features of phenotypic variation in vertebrates. Biologists, however, still lack a full understanding of the underlying morphological components and ecological factors that contribute to its diversity, particularly in endothermic vertebrates such as mammals. As an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, I generated the first quantitative database of mammalian body shapes using skeletal specimens held at natural history museums and tested hypotheses pertaining to the evolutionary integration of the cranial, axial, and appendicular components that contribute to body shape diversity, and the adaptive significance of body shapes.