Cornell University
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The Hedrick Lab seeks to better understand the interconnected relationship between morphology, phylogeny, and ecology in order to answer the question:
How do morphological innovations lead to ecological expansion and the radiation of taxa?
By studying a wide variety of taxa ranging from sharks, to bats, to rodents, to dinosaurs, we assess the impact of morphological evolution on the great diversity of life, past, present, and future.
News from 2024
November 11, 2024; New Fieldwork led by Stephen Bredin
The Hedrick Lab was out setting up drift fences for a new spotted salamander road ecology project to start next Spring! This work is being led by Stephen Bredin, a master's student in the lab.
September 21, 2024; Andrew Orkney Receives Award
Andrew Orkney, a postdoc in the Hedrick Lab, received Cornell University's campus-wide Postdoc Achievement Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Andrew is a fantastic mentor and directly works with many of the undergrads in the Hedrick Lab. He received numerous nominations from his students. This photo is from his awards ceremony. It was such an honor, he had to buy a tie.
June 19, 2024; Two new bird papers out!
Two new bird papers came out this past month in Nature (which got the cover!) and Nature Communications. The Nature paper revealed the impact of the subpectoral diverticulum (an air sac extension under the pectoralis muscle) on soaring bird evolution. The Nature Communications paper (led by postdoc Andrew Orkney) examined the impact of body mass on skeletal organization across Aves. Very cool stuff! I swear I'm a mammalogist.
May 12, 2024; Batting in Belize!
Brandon was in Belize to catch bats and explore how their wing shape changes during the flap cycle. This involved catching bats in front of Mayan temples at Lamanai and flying them in front of high speed cameras to generate 3D wing kinematics. Brooke Quinn (Brown University) and Andrea Rummel (Rice University) were in charge of the flight tent and were exploring other cool questions about bat flight.
May 16, 2024; Jamison Presents on His Work
Jamison Thompson, a high school student working in the Hedrick lab for the 2023-2024 academic year presents his research on integration in terrestrial and saltatory rodents at the annual New Visions symposium. Fantastic work!
March 11, 2024 TCAMP and Spotted Salamander Migrations!
After months of hard work, the Hedrick Lab's Stephen Bredin led the inaugural Tompkins County Amphibian Migration Patrol (TCAMP) to help migrating amphibians cross roads in the Ithaca area. This mobilized volunteers from the vet school, from Cornell more generally, and from across Tompkins county. Data to come!
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January 7, 2024 The Hedrick Lab at SICB
The Hedrick Lab had a large presence at SICB this year thanks to Lauren Essner (top left), Elizabeth Augustin (top right), and Will Hooker (bottom) (all undergrads) who presented posters on the work that they have been doing for the past year. Andrew Orkney and Priscila Rothier (postdocs) also presented their work. In spite of nominally being a mammalogist, Brandon gave a herp talk for a 3rd SICB in a row.
