About Me: In Fall of 2010, I joined ASU and I am now a President's Professor with my academic home in the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (within the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences). This means I teach (this link should take you to the 'courses' tab on my ASU directory page), and conduct research. My research is within the field called Functional Morphology, the study of organism structure (i.e., anatomy) and function (e.g., how it works in a particular context). If you'd like to know more about what I have done in my past research, please check out my publications. If you'd like to know what we are up to now, read about our collaborations, stop by the lab, or, follow us on our social media sites (lots of links on our home page). Email me at Lara.Ferry@asu.edu.
What is is about form? It does not take a functional morphologist to note the amazing array of jaw shapes present in nature; from the simple and familiar basses to the robust-jawed sharks and the delicately long-jawed butterflyfish. Through my research I am trying to understand why there is such a diversity in shape or form within the group of organisms we call "fishes". My own research is centered around questions that attempt to broadly address: 1) the evolution of novel and/or specialized forms, 2) the biomechanical or performance consequence of changes in form; and; 3) how form, typically by interacting with other physiological, behavioral, or genetic variables, affects and can be used to predict functional ecological relationships. While the form, or feature, we investigate most is the jaws, we are not limited to only the study of jaws in my laboratory.
Why fish? Fish have been the ecological dominants in aquatic habitats pretty much since complex life evolved on this planet. Aquatic habitats are diverse, and as a consequence fishes as a group exhibit an incredibly rich suite of forms as necessary to meet the challenges faced in these different habitats. Our research tends to focus in particular on traits associated with the evolution of jaws and aquatic prey acquisition. Jaws evolved early in the vertebrate lineage, namely in our fishy ancestors, and have persisted in all extant vertebrates to date. Fishes are the most successful and diverse group of vertebrates on the planet, and much of this success has been attributed to specific jaw innovations.
“Fishes are excellent showcases of the evolutionary process, exemplifying the intimate relationship between habitat and adaptation, between form and function.” - Dr Gene Helfman (winner of the Meritorious Teaching Award in Ichthology for his lifetime contributions for education and in particular educating fish biologists).
How did I get into this field? My training is pretty diverse. I received my BS degree in Biology from Cal Poly State University at San Luis Obispo. From there I went off to get a MS degree in Marine Science from San Francisco State University. I completed my PhD in Biology at the University of California Irvine in the Comparative Physiology Graduate Group, followed by a Post Doctoral Associateship at UC Davis in the Center for Population Biology. Then, for a period of time, I was a part of the research faculty at Moss Landing Marine Labs (MLML)/San Jose State University and, during the summers, at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs.