Patricia Freeman
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Hi, I’m Patricia “Trish” Freeman. I’m a professor with the School of Natural Resources (SNR) associated with the fisheries and wildlife major and the wildlife ecology graduate specialization.
My research interests are in the form and function of jaws and teeth of insectivorous (insect-eating) mammals, particularly bats, shrews and moles; simulating the evolution of a large family of tropical bats that contain a diversity of skull shapes and tooth patterns and their phylogeny (the ancestor-descendant relationships) based on DNA; quantifying the toughness of insect cuticle; the biology of vertebrates, particularly mammals, and how their distributions have shifted in Nebraska and the northern Great Plains with increased human effects on the environment and environmental change.
Understanding shifts in distributions of Nebraska wildlife is important in determining how changes may be affecting the environment and in the spread of diseases. Research on teeth that are among the most primitive in mammals and correlated diets not only adds to the foundation of how teeth evolved in mammals but shows how diet can affect the shape of cusp patterns and the size of teeth in other mammals, such as carnivores and primates, including humans.
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Since coming to UNL in 1981, until summer of 2003, when I joined the SNR, I worked as curator of zoology for the University of Nebraska State Museum. I was the primary scientific expert for exhibits in the Hall of Nebraska Wildlife in Morrill Hall. I was and still am involved in building the largest and finest collections in the world of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish from Nebraska and the Northern Great Plains.
I have a bachelor’s from Randolph-Macon Woman's College of Lynchburg, Va., and a Ph. D. from the University of New Mexico.
Key Publications
- Swartz, S., Freeman, P.W., and E. Stockwell. 2003. Ecomorphology of Bats: Comparative and Experimental Approaches. Pp. 257-300, in Bat Ecology (T. H. Kunz and M. B. Fenton, eds.). University of Chicago Press. 779 pp.
- Benedict, R. A., H. H. Genoways, and P. W. Freeman. 2000. Shifting distributional patterns of mammals in Nebraska. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 26: 55-84.
- Freeman, P.W. 2000. Macroevolution in Microchiroptera: Recoupling morphology and ecology with phylogeny. Evolutionary Ecology - Research, 2: 317-335.
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| Office Hours | Contact me. I have two offices |
| Potential Advising for Undergraduate Majors | Bachelor of Science in
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| Potential Advising for Graduate Program |
Doctor of Philosophy with a Specialization in
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| Course Number | Course Title | Day | Time | Cross Listings |
| NRES 476 | Mammalogy | F | 0230-0520 P | BIOS 476/876, NRES 876 |
| NRES 476 | Mammalogy | TR | 0930-1045 A | BIOS 476/876, NRES 876 |
| NRES 497 | Career Experiences in Nat. Res. Sci. | ARR | ARR | None |
| NRES 876 | Mammalogy Lab | F | 0230-0520 P | BIOS 476/876, NRES 476 |
| NRES 876 | Mammalogy | TR | 0930-1045 A | BIOS 476/876, NRES 476 |
| NRES 899 | Masters Thesis | ARR | ARR | None |
| SNR Faculties | Applied Ecology, Geography/GIScience |
| Areas of Interest | Mammalian biology, Evolution and Systematics, Functional morphology, Vertebrate Zoology, Bats, Mammals, Vertebrate functional morphology; Functional morphology of the jaws and teeth of bats, Bite Force in small mammals, Evolution of teeth of insectivorous mammals, Toughness of insect cuticle, Nebraska vertebrates and their distributions |
| Contact Preference | pfreeman1@unl.edu |
| Notable Website | http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/zoology/zoology.html |
| Notable Website | http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/museummammalogy/ |
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