Research Interests

I'm interested in linking energetics and functional morphology to ecology in the great apes and humans. How do the energetic physiology and musculoskeletal anatomy of apes and humans reflect our ecological niche and evolutionary history?

My research uses a combined modeling and experimental approach to test hypotheses regarding selection pressures shaping metabolic physiology and functional anatomy in apes, humans, and extinct hominins. I investigate these hypotheses by measuring metabolic energy expenditure in apes, humans, and other species, and by exploring optimal control and morphological solutions to different selection pressures through numerical and computer modeling.

Fieldwork

I'm currently involved in a multiyear project to measure daily energy use in the great apes and human foragers using the doubly-labeled water method. These measurements are needed to compare and understand the evolved energy-use strategies and evolutionary trajectories of the great apes and humans.

I'm also involved in the ongoing excavations in the Lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. Fieldwork there provides an exciting opportunity to apply results from the lab to the fossil record. Dated to 1.8 mya, Dmanisi is a particularly interesting site as it's the earliest evidence of hominids (Homo ergaster) outside of Africa.

Current Projects

The metabolic cost of living in the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers with David Raichlen, Audax Mabulla, Brian Wood, and Frank Marlowe

Total daily energy expenditure in Orangutans at the Great Ape Trust with Robert Shumaker and David Raichlen

Locomotor biomechanics of the Dmanisi hominids with Tea Jashashvili, Philip Rightmire, and David Lordkipanidze

Daily energy expenditures in wild sifakas with David Raichlen and Mitch Irwin

Ontogeny of walking in humans and other apes