zodhomb@lsu.edu
Staff
Herman H. Bragulla, Visiting Associate
Professor
Mary East, Research Associate
Janina M. Lamb, Ph.D. student
Brooke A. Hopkins, M.S. student
LSU / Comparative and Evolutionary Vertebrate Morphology Homepage
My research program focuses on the exploration of complex systems and the discovery of structures, constructional principles, and theoretical concepts. Examples are the discovery of the special construction of the avian hyoid suspension and its implication for the evolution of feeding adaptations in birds and mammals; the discovery of a kinetic larynx in certain birds and its fundamental role in vocalization; the discovery of the role of dermal and subcutaneous fat for the movement of feathers; the discovery of the function of the depressor feather muscles and its significance for the evolution of birds and avian flight; the development of a method of theoretical biomechanical analysis of complex skeleto-muscular systems; and the postulate that systematics and comparative anatomy are based on fundamentally distinct research programs.
I am particularly interested in the integration of individual structures and organs into mechanically coherent complex systems of interactive parts. An example is the discovery that laryngeal morphology is related to the type of hyoid suspension in birds and that, therefore, the evolutionary changes in the vocal apparatus are tied to those of the feeding apparatus in birds. A goal of my research is the reconstruction of macroevolutionary changes as a result of individual variation and natural selection based on an integration of functional-morphological and ecological data of extant organisms and of paleoclimatological and geological data. An example is my long-term study of the feeding and drinking behaviors, morphology, and ecology of cockatoos and parrots, which has also implications for the evolution of the Gondwanan avifauna in general.
Homberger, D.G. 2003. The role of mechanical forces on the patterning of the avian feather-bearing skin: Evidence from the integumentary musculature. J. exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.), 298B: 123-139.
Homberger, D.G. 2003. The comparative biomechanics of a prey-predator relationship: The adaptive morphologies of the feeding apparatus of Australian Black-Cockatoos and their foods as a basis for the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the Psittaciformes. Pp. 203-228 in Vertebrate Biomechanics and Evolution (V.L. Bels, J.-P. Gasc, & A. Casinos, eds.). BIOS Scientific Publishers, Oxford.
Gudo, M. & Homberger, D.G. 2002. The functional morphology of the pectoral fin girdle of the Spiny Dogfish (Squalus acanthias): Implications for the evolutionary history of the pectoral girdle of vertebrates. Senckenbergiana lethaea, 82 (1): 241-252.
Homberger, D.G. 2001. The case of the cockatoo bill, horse hoof, rhinoceros horn, whale baleen, and turkey beard: The integument as a model system to explore the concepts of homology and non-homology. Pp. 317-343 in Vertebrate functional morphology: Horizon of research in the 21st century (H.M. Dutta & J.S. Datta Munshi, eds.). Science Publishers Inc., Enfield, New Hampshire
Homberger, D.G. & de Silva, K.N. 2000. Functional microanatomy of the feather-bearing avian integument: Implications for the evolution of birds and avian flight. Amer. Zool. 40 (4): 553-574.
Homberger, D.G. 2000. Similarities and differences: The distinct approaches of systematics and comparative anatomy towards homology and analogy. Pp. 53-72 in Organisms, Genes and Evolution: Evolutionary theory at the crossroads (D.S. Peters & M. Weingarten, eds.). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.
Homberger, D.G. 1999. The avian tongue and larynx: Multiple functions in nutrition and vocalization. Pp. 94-113 in Proceedings of the 22nd International Ornithological Congress (N. Adams & R. Slotow, eds). University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. BirdLife, Johannesburg, South Africa.