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Master's Thesis Project:
This project is exploring brain shape diversification over evolutionary time within Mustelidae, and whether or not resulting shape changes correspond to ecological variables. To address these questions, we have a data set of computed tomography scans of mustelid specimens representing 18 out of 65 species from numerous museum collections. I have created 3-dimensional virtual casts of the endocranial cavities (or "endocasts"). A geometric morphometrics approach will be applied to the endocasts to quantify brain shape. This methodology has not yet been applied in any carnivoran family. Publications: (1) Sakai, S., Arsznov, B., Hristova, A.E., Yoon, E., Lundrigan, B. (2016) Big Cat Coalitions: A comparative analysis of regional brain volumes in Felidae. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2016.00099 Poster Presentations: (1) Hristova, A.E., Yoon, E., Arsznov, B.M., Lundrigan, B.L., and Sakai, S.T. Big Cat Coalitions: A comparative analysis of regional brain volumes in Felidae. Poster presentation at Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA, 10/2015. (2) Hristova, A.E., Arsznov, B.M., Lundrigan, B.L., and Sakai, S.T. Family Matters: An intrafamily comparison of relative brain volumes within Mustelidae. Poster presentation at Society for Neuroscience Conference, Washington, D.C., 11/2014. |
