Schroeder Lab
REsearch in the schroeder lab
Current research is broadly focused on the following interrelated questions: 1) To what extent did non-adaptive processes (gene flow, random genetic drift) contribute to our evolution? 2) How does the recognition of the importance of these processes shape (and change) our understanding of diversification in hominin evolution? 3) How does the pattern of these processes vary across morphological/skeletal regions, and how does this variability affect our estimation of evolutionary relationships in the fossil record?
EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
Reconstructing the evolutionary processes that have shaped morphological divergence across the hominin lineage by utilising approaches from evolutionary quantitative genetics. Current focus includes the evolution of hominin bipedalism, ancestor-descendent relationships in the hominin fossil record, and the evolution of the chin.
VARIATION
Quantifying the morphological variability across the skeleton in humans and other primates to investigate how morphological patterns of variability evolve.
GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRICS
Developing tools that combine geometric morphometric methods for statistical 3D shape comparison with the analytical approach of quantitative genetics utilised in evolutionary morphology.
FIELDWORK
In the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site, South Africa: TBA
HYBRIDIZATION
Determining the morphological effect of gene flow and resultant hybridization on the skeleton in extant mammalian hybrids, with the goal of creating a model for identifying hybrids in the human fossil record. Projects include investigating the effects of hybridization on the skeleton of North American canids, and laboratory-raised pedigreed hybrid collared lemmings.
Collaborators
Rebecca Rogers Ackermann, Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town
Sheela Athreya, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University
Sarah Elton, Department of Anthropology, Durham University
Chris Kendall, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto
Madlen Lang, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough
Ming Fei Li, SHEL Lab, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga
Chris Robinson, Department of Biology, Bronx Community College, CUNY
Charles Roseman, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Yonatan Sahle, Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town
David Samson, SHEL Lab, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga
Jill Scott, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Keegan Selig, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
Mary Silcox, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough
Bence Viola, Department of Anthropology (Violab), University of Toronto
Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, Buffalo Human Evolutionary Morphology Lab, University at Buffalo