Brandon P. Hedrick, Ph.D.

I am an evolutionary biologist, comparative anatomist, and ecologist interested primarily in questions relating to ecomorphology and macroevolutionary trends. While I have worked on a wide variety of vertebrate groups (sharks, dinosaurs, amphibians, birds), my work has centered on mammalian evolution, particularly that of bats.

Current Research:

Bat Sensory Ecology and Morphometry: New World leaf-nosed bats have diverged into a wide variety of dietary niches, ranging from to insect-eating bats to blood-eating vampire bats to fruit-eating bats capable of biting into figs to nectar-feeding bats that engorge their tongues with blood to drink nectar in flowers. These different bats use different sensory systems to find their food (hearing for echolocation versus vision for finding bright fruits). Working with collaborators from Stony Brook, UC Merced, UCLA, and the Queen Mary University of London, I am studying the evolution of diet and sensory morphometry (e.g. eye globe size, olfactory bulb size) in New World leaf-nosed bats, analyzed using diffusible contrast-enhanced iodine staining, to quantify potential trade-offs in sensory systems.

Mammal Forelimb Evolution: Mammals have evolved into a wide variety of niches, with many of these niches requiring substantial remodeling of the forelimb (e.g., flying in bats, digging in moles). I am studying the internal morphology of mammalian forelimbs using cross-sectional geometry analyses and external morphology using 3D geometric morphometrics to better understand convergence in mammalian forelimb structure and the coupling and decoupling of rates of morphological evolution in the forelimb and rates of speciation and extinction. 

Salamander Ecology: Salamanders make up an important part of the ecosystems that they inhabit. However, much of their movement and land-use occurs underground, making their behavior particularly difficult to study. A range of researchers from across the United States have formed the Salamander Population Adaptation Research Collaboration Network (SPARCnet, https://seansterrett.wixsite.com/sparcnet) to understand red-backed salamander behavior across their range (from North Carolina to Canada). As part of this group, I have studied how lungless salamanders, like red-backed salamanders, use the landscapes they inhabit with artificial cover objects in Massachusetts.