Dr.
Nicole D. S. Grunstra
2023
- present PI of "The Obstetrial Dilemma: Evolutionary Trade-offs in the Human and Mammalian Pelvis", funded by
the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant ESP 485).
2020 - 2023 co-PI
of "Evolvability of inner and middle ears in birds and mammals,' funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant P33736).
2019 - present PI of "Towards Resolving the Human Obstetric Conundrum:
Theoretical, Computational, and Comparative Mammalian Approaches," funded by the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and
Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg.
2019 - 2023 PI of Post-PhD Research
Grant "Of mice and women: Disentangling the human obstetric conundrum using a comparative mammalian approach," funded by the Wenner-Gren
Foundation for Anthropological Research (grant 9784).
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
2018: PhD Biological Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK (supervisor: Prof. R.A. Foley)
2016: Visiting scientist, Mitteroecker Lab, Dept. Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Austria.
2012: Visiting scholar, Hlusko Lab, Dept. Integrative Zoology, University of
California, Berkeley, USA.
2009: MSc Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology,
University of Oxford, UK.
2008: BA Anthropology, Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
(major), and Linguistics (minor), University College Utrecht, Netherlands.
EMPLOYMENT
2023 – present: PI / ESPRIT Fellow (FWF), Dept. Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna.
2022 – 2023: Postdoctoral researcher, Dept. Evolutionary
Biology, University of Vienna.
2019 – 2021: Postdoctoral Fellow, Konrad Lorenz
Institute (KLI) for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
2018 –
2019: Postdoctoral researcher, Dept. Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna.
2016 – 2017: Postgraduate researcher, Dept. Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna (supervisor:
Prof. P. Mitteroecker)
AFFILIATIONS
2023 – present Human Evolution & Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) network.
2019 – present Affiliated Scientist, Mammal Collection, Natural History Museum Vienna
Grunstra NDS, Betti L, Fischer B, Haeusler M, Pavlicev M, Stansfield
E, Trevathan W, Webb NM, Wells JCK, Rosenberg KR, & Mitteroecker P (2023). There is an obstetrical dilemma: Misconceptions
about the evolution of human childbirth and pelvic form. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 181(4),
535-544. DOI
Grunstra NDS,
Louys J, Elton S (2023). Climate, not Quaternary biogeography, explains skull morphology of the long-tailed macaque on
the Sunda Shelf, Quaternary Science Reviews, 310, 108121. DOI
Haeusler M, Grunstra NDS, Martin RD, Krenn VA, Fornai C, & Webb NM
(2021). The obstetrical dilemma hypothesis: there's life in the old dog yet. Biological Reviews, 96(5), 2031-2057. DOI
Mitteroecker P, Grunstra
NDS, Stansfield E, Waltenberger L, & Fischer B (2021). Did population differences in human pelvic form evolve by
drift or selection? Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris, 33(1), 11-26. DOI
Stansfield E, Fischer B, Grunstra
NDS, Villa Pouca M, & Mitteroecker P (2021). The evolution of pelvic canal shape and rotational birth in humans. BMC
Biology, 19(1), 1-11. DOI
Stansfield E, Kumar
K, Mitteroecker P, & Grunstra NDS (2021). Biomechanical trade-offs in
the pelvic floor constrain the evolution of the human birth canal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(USA), 118(16), e2022159118. DOI
Fischer B, Grunstra NDS, Zaffarini E, & Mitteroecker P (2021). Sex
differences in the pelvis did not evolve de novo in modern humans. Nature Ecology & Evolution,
5, 625-630. DOI
Grunstra
NDS, Bartsch SJ, Le Maître A, & Mitteroecker P (2021). Detecting Phylogenetic Signal and Adaptation in Papionin
Cranial Shape by Decomposing Variation at Different Spatial Scales. Systematic Biology, 70(4), 694-706. DOI
Cazzolla Gatti R, Menéndez LP, Laciny A, Bobadilla Rodríguez
H, Bravo Morante G, Carmen E, Dorninger C, Fabris F, Grunstra NDS, Schnorr SL,
Stuhlträger J, Villanueva Hernandez LA, Jakab M, Sarto-Jackson I, & Caniglia G. (2021). Diversity lost: COVID-19 as a
phenomenon of the total environment. Science of the Total Environment, 756, 144014. DOI
Le Maître A, Grunstra NDS, Pfaff C, & Mitteroecker P (2020). Evolution
of the mammalian ear: An evolvability hypothesis. Evolutionary Biology, 47, 187-192. DOI
Mitteroecker P, Bartsch SJ, Erkinger C, Grunstra NDS, Le Maître A, &
Bookstein FL (2020). Morphometric Variation at Different Spatial Scales: Coordination and Compensation in the Emergence of
Organismal Form. Systematic Biology, 69(5), 913-926. DOI
Grunstra NDS, Zachos FE, Herdina AN, Pavličev M, Fischer B, &
Mitteroecker P (2019). Humans as inverted bats: A comparative approach to the obstetric conundrum. American Journal
of Human Biology, 31(2), e23227. DOI
Grunstra NDS, Mitteroecker, P., & Foley, R.A. (2018). A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental
variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 166(2), 386-400. DOI
Grunstra NDS (2018). What’s in a Tooth? Signals of Ecogeography
and Phylogeny in the Dentition of Macaques (Cercopithecidae: Macaca). PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge,
UK. DOI
Software
Le Maître A , Bartsch S, Grunstra NDS, Mitteroecker P (2020). prWarp: Warping Landmark configurations. R package
version 1.0.0. https://cran.r-project.org/package=prWarp
Research Interests and Expertise
Human evolution · pelvic
morphology · comparative anatomy · digital imaging ·
3D geometric morphometrics · reproductive biology · phylogenetic
comparative methods · functional trade-offs · EvoDevo
About Me
I am an evolutionary anthropologist and my area of
expertise is comparative and evolutionary morphology of primates and other mammals, collection-based research, geometric morphometrics
and 3D imaging techniques. Presently, I conduct empirical and theoretical work on the mammalian pelvis in pursuit of understanding
the evolution of the narrow pelvis and difficult childbirth in humans (the "obstetric conundrum"). Specifically, I lead a
project devoted to studying the functional and evolutionary trade-offs in the mammalian, including human, pelvis.
Additional projects within this research framework include pelvic morphology in
bats (Chiroptera), finite element analysis (FEA) of the human pelvic floor, and a comparative study of mammalian pubic symphysis
morphology.
In my postdoctoral work at the Dept. Evolutionary Biology
at the University of Vienna, I studied internal cranial anatomy in primates by means of micro-CT scans and 3D geometric morphometrics
to investigate phylogenetic signal and ontogenetic patterns in primate cranial morphology. I collaborated with Prof. Philipp
Mitteroecker (University of Vienna) to develop and apply novel methods to decompose organismal shape.
My PhD in biological anthropology (University of Cambridge, UK) focused on the taxonomic,
phylogenetic, and phenotypic divergence in Macaca (Primates: Cercopithecidae)
in an ecogeographic context (supervised by Prof. Robert Foley, FRS). I also applied EvoDevo concepts through a
study of variational constraints in the craniodental phenotype of macaques. I used morphometrics, multivariate statistics,
and phylogenetic comparative methods.
Google Scholar
ResearchGate
HEAS
University of Vienna
Research Funding
2023
€ 316,036,
Austrian Science Fund (“FWF”) ESPRIT Fellowship: “The Obstetrical Dilemma: Evolutionary Trade-Offs in the Human and
Mammalian Pelvis.” I am the PI and sole author/applicant of the grant.
2020
€ 396,958, Austrian Science Fund (“FWF”): “Evolvability of inner and middle ears in birds and mammals.” I
was a co-PI and a co-applicant/co-author of the grant.
2019
$ 18,805, Wenner-Gren Foundation Post-Ph.D. Research Grant. I was the PI and sole author/applicant of the
grant.
2010 – 2016
I acquired
a total of € 63,750 in various individual scholarships, awards and field-work grants from the Netherlands, the UK, and Austria
to fund my PhD.
Awards and Fellowships
2021
Young Investigator Award (€ 7,000), Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna.
2019
Postdoctoral fellowship, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Cognition and Evolution Research
(Austria), 2.5 years.
Professional Service Work
Since 2019, I have been a Subject Editor for the international journal Mammalian Biology (areas: Primates, Morphometrics).
Since 2020, I have been the secretary of the Network of Biological Systematics (NOBIS) Austria.
