The environment is a central force in shaping the functional design of an animal during its ontogeny and evolution, but the way an animal is constructed also influences its ability to exploit available resources such as food, space, time and reproductive opportunities. I use an ecomorphological approach to identify the causal link between functional design, performance, and patterns of resource use in a range of taxa. This method merges studies of functional morphology (lab based) and movement biomechanics (zoo based) that together determine the effect of morphological variation on performance, with biomechanical field-studies of animals in their natural habitat, to determine the effect of performance on actual patterns of resource use. This methodology can provide insight into fundamental issues in ecology (such as foraging, predator avoidance and competitive strategies and life history patterns) and evolution (such as novel adaptations and interpretation of the fossil record).

To date, the majority of my research has focused on the locomotor ecology of the great apes (including humans) to understand the evolution of locomotor diversity in the apes and in particular to study the evolution of the defining characteristic of humans, our bipedal gait (e.g. Thorpe et al, Science, 2007). I am now beginning to apply my approach to the study of locomotor ecology of other animals, particularly geese and cormorants in collaboration with members of the Centre for Ornithology.

Selected publications

Thorpe, SKS, Holder R and Crompton RH. (2007) Origin of human bipedalism as an adaptation for locomotion on flexible branches Science 316:1328-1331

Thorpe, SKS, Crompton RH and Alexander, R.McN. (2007) Orangutans utilise compliant branches to lower the energetic cost of locomotion. Biology Letters 3: 253-256

O’Conner CM, Thorpe SKS, O’Mally, MJ and Vaughan, CL. (2007) Automatic detection of gait events using kinematic data. Gait and Posture 25:469-474.

Thorpe SKS, Crompton RH (2005) Locomotor ecology of wild orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii) in the Gunung leuser ecosystem, Sumatra, Indonesia: A multivariate analysis using log-linear modelling American Journal Of Physical Anthropology 127 (1): 58-78