I am interested in the ways that animals are adapted to their lifestyles and environments by specializations in the structure of their bodies. Bats emit approximately 10 calls every second that they are in flight, for navigation and to locate insect prey. Each of these calls may exceed 110 dB sound intensity measured 10 cm from the bats mouth — the intensity of a smoke alarm. How is this possible? They are capable of emitting calls at a rate of over 200 per second, but the intensity drops. Why? Vocalization in bats, as in most mammals, is powered by the respiratory system. How is the respiratory system modified for the spectacular vocal performances of bats? How is their vocalization limited by the needs of the respiratory system to supply air for the demanding activity of flight? These are questions that I have explored in my research. I have studied, and I teach human anatomy. I do not conduct research in human anatomy, but in no species of animal is the body described and characterized at the level of detail as that of humans. This makes the study of human anatomy an excellent foundation for the study of the structure of any vertebrate.

I have conducted studies on the specializations of the respiratory systems, skull, jaw structure, and genitalia of bats. I am currently involved in research on the structure of the inner and middle ears of whales and dolphins in order to understand how they have adapted their system of biosonar to the aquatic environment and how it relates to body size. Animals’ bodies hold the solutions to the problems of surviving and thriving; the opportunities for study are endless.

• Introductory Human Anatomy
• Biology of Sex, contributing faculty
• Advanced Human Anatomy
• Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy

• Dávalos, LM, Lancaster WC, Núñez-Novas MS, León YM, Lei B, Flanders J, and Russell AL. A coalescent-based estimator of genetic drift, and acoustic divergence in the Pteronotus parnellii species complex. Heredity (2019): 122(4): 417–427
• McClintock, JB, Lancaster WC, Pomery C, and Lawrence JM. 2018. Mass mortality of the sea cucumber Thyronella pervicax on the Florida panhandle, December 2016. Gulf of Mexico Science: (2018) 34 (1).
• Lancaster WC, Ary WJ, Krysl P, and Cranford TW, "Precocial development within the tympanoperiotic complex in cetaceans," Marine Mammal Science (2014): 31: 369-375
• Larkey DJ, Datwyler SL, and Lancaster WC, "Vertebral fusion in bats: Phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships," in Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules and Morphology, Gunnell G and Simmons NB, eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2012), 500-529.
• DesRoche K, Fenton MB, and Lancaster WC, "Echolocation and the thoracic skeletons of bats: A comparative morphological study," Acta Chiropterologica 9 (2007): 483-94.
• Lambertsen RH, Rasmussen KJ, Lancaster WC, and Hintz RJ, "Functional Morphology of the mouth of the bowhead whale and its implications for conservation," Journal of Mammalogy 86 (2005): 342-52.
• Lancaster WC and Speakman JR, "Variations in respiratory muscle activity during echolocation when stationary in three species of bat (Microchiroptera: Vespertilionidae)," Journal of Experimental Biology 204 (2001): 4185-97.
• Rydell J and Lancaster WC, "Flight and thermoregulation in moths were shaped by predation from bats," Oikos 88 (2000): 13-18.

• Lancaster, WC. Speciation and Divergent Biosonar Behaviour in Caribbean Populations of the Greater Mustached Bat. Nature Research: Ecology and Evolution Community. Behind the Paper