Research

My lab investigates why animals are shaped the way they’re shaped, focusing on three general areas:
How animals adapt (ecological and functional morphology)
How animals move (biomechanics)
How animals vary (macroevolution and biodiversity)
This work combines laboratory, field, and museum-based methods to study the adhesive toes of lizards, an excellent system to address questions of evolution, adaptation, and mechanics.

I’m currently looking for undergrad students interested in doing research!

Ecological Morphology

Correlating species’ traits and capabilities with their environments to infer adaptation

Biomechanics

Connecting animals body shapes with what they’re capable of doing.

MACROEVOLUTION

Estimating when and how traits arose and changed through time

Cool Videos

SICB 2021 Meet a Scientist video with advice for new scientists
Uploaded by Suzanne Miller “Hagey s8 produced by Mangum student Daniel Ko”
Video produced by Mangum Program student- Daniel Ko of NBits Lab, Imperial College London

Measuring gecko adhesion via toe detachment angle in 2009 at Lewis and Clark College using Phelsuma grandis.

Public presentation of my graduate research as part of the Malcolm M. Renfrew Interdisciplinary Colloquium and the University of Idaho in 2004.