Patricia (Trish) W. Freeman
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.
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.
Personnel Information
| Name | Patricia W. Freeman |
| University Title | Professor |
| Additional Title | Curator |
| Address | 428 Hardin Hall, Lincoln NE 68583-0974 |
| Affiliation (index) | Museum |
| Phone | 402-472-6606 |
| Fax | 402-472-2946 |
| pfreeman1@unl.edu | |
| Related Websites | http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/zoology/zoology.html http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/museummammalogy/ |
Go to Trish's Full Profile
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.
