Our research explores how animal evolution is both constrained and inspired by the physical world. We study the interplay between locomotion and ventilation — how animals move and breathe — to understand the biomechanical and physiological foundations of major evolutionary transitions. Using approaches that span comparative anatomy, experimental physiology, computational modeling, and 3D kinematics, we investigate questions such as how lung structure and airflow mechanics evolved with diving and explosive ventilation in marine mammals, and how biomechanical scaling shaped locomotor evolution in reptiles.
Join the Lab!
Our lab is growing! If you’d like to get involved in our research as an undergraduate student, join the lab as a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow or collaborator, please get in touch!
Robert Cieri
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University
Email: robert.cieri@yale.edu
PhD, Biology, The University of Utah
BS, Biology & Evolutionary Biology, Duke University
