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Vera Weisbecker

(She/her)
Associate Professor, Flinders University

I am an evolutionary biologist with particular interest in understanding how vertebrate animals adapt to the environment. My most long-standing interest is the evolution of marsupial mammals, such as kangaroos, wombats and koalas. I am particularly focused on trying to understand how the unusual birth mode of marsupials - with tiny embryo-like newborns - affects their ability to adapt to diverse environmental conditions. However, I also love working on questions of how adaptation determines the shape of vertebrates in general. My favourite research techniques are the use of virtual three-dimensional reconstructions of animal skeletal shape, and using the R statistical language to quantify patterns of shape variation.

Experience

  • –present
    Associate Professor, Flinders University

Education

  • 2008 
    University of New South Wales, PhD/Evolutionary Biology