About me
I am a theoretical biologist and evolutionary biologist with strong interests in human and animal evolution, evolutionary medicine, biological anthropology, statistics, and the philosophy of science.
I have studied the development and evolution of human and primate anatomy, including the individual variation and perception of human faces, with medical applications to orthodontics. I am particularly interested in the interaction of developmental, environmental, and evolutionary processes. Another current research focus is on human childbirth: an evolutionary conundrum involving biological, environmental, and sociocultural dynamics.
I am fascinated by the analysis of complex biological data, including morphological, behavioral, and genetic data. I have contributed to modern morphometrics, the statistical analysis of biological form, as well as to multivariate biostatistics and quantitative genetics.
I am teaching morphometrics, statistics, theoretical and evolutionary biology at the University of Vienna and the University of Graz, and I am a directorial board member of the KLI Institute for Evolution & Cognition Research.
Publication list
2023
Nemec, M., Schwarz, L., Bertl, M. H., Bertl, K., Gahleitner, A., Mitteroecker, P., & Jonke, E. (2023). Maxillary lateral incisor agenesis is associated with maxillary form: a geometric morphometric analysis. Clinical oral investigations, 27(3), 1063-1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-022-04690-9
Stansfield, E., Mitteroecker, P., Umek, W., & Fischer, B. (2023). The variation in shape and thickness of the pelvic floor musculature in males and females: a geometric-morphometric analysis. International Urogynecology Journal, 34(2), 453-461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-022-05311-5
2022
Mitteroecker, P., & Schäfer, K. (2022). Thirty years of geometric morphometrics: Achievements, challenges, and the ongoing quest for biological meaningfulness. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 178(S74), 181-210. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24531
Weber, G. W., Lukeneder, A., Harzhauser, M., Mitteroecker, P., Wurm, L., Hollaus, L-M., Kainz, S., Haack, F., Antl-Weiser, W., & Kern, A. (2022). The microstructure and the origin of the Venus from Willendorf. Scientific Reports, 12(1), [2926]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06799-z
2021
Fischer, B., Grunstra, N., Zaffarini, E., & Mitteroecker, P. (2021). Sex differences in the pelvis did not evolve de novo in modern humans. A facilitated variation hypothesis. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5, 625–630 .
Fornai, C., Krenn, V. A., Mitteroecker, P., Webb, N. M., & Haeusler, M. (2021). Sacrum morphology supports taxonomic heterogeneity of "Australopithecus africanus" at Sterkfontein Member 4. Communications Biology, 4(1), [347]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01850-7
Grunstra, N., Bartsch, S., Le Maitre, 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 . https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa093
Mitteroecker, P., & Stansfield, E. (2021). A model of developmental canalization, applied to human cranial form. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(2), [e1008381]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008381
Mitteroecker, P., Grunstra, N. D. S., Stansfield, E., Waltenberger, L., & Fischer, B. (2021). Did population differences in human pelvic form evolve by drift or selection? Bulletins et Memoires de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, 33(1), 11-26. https://doi.org/10.4000/BMSAP.7460
Stansfield, E., Kumar, K., Mitteroecker, P., & Grunstra, N. (2021). Biomechanical trade-offs in the pelvic floor constrain the evolution of the human birth canal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 118(16), [e2022159118]. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022159118
Stansfield, E., Mitteroecker, P., Vasilyev, S. Y., Butaric, L. N., & Vasilyev, S. (2021). Respiratory adaptation to climate in modern humans and Upper Palaeolithic individuals from Sungir and Mladeč. Scientific Reports, 11(1), [7997]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86830-x
Stansfield, E., Fischer, B., Grunstra, N., Villa Pouca, M., & Mitteroecker, P. (2021). The evolution of pelvic canal shape and rotational birth in humans. BMC Biology, 19(1), [224]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-021-01150-w
Waltenberger, L., Pany-Kucera, D., Rebay-Salisbury, K., & Mitteroecker, P. (2021). The association of parturition scars and pelvic shape: A geometric morphometric study. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 174(3), 519-531. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24196
Waltenberger, L., Rebay-Salisbury, K., & Mitteroecker, P. (2021). Three-dimensional surface scanning methods in osteology: A topographical and geometric morphometric comparison. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 174(4), 846-858. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24204
2020
Le Maitre, A., Grunstra, N., Pfaff, C., & Mitteroecker, P. (2020). Evolution of the Mammalian Ear: An Evolvability Hypothesis. Evolutionary Biology, 47, 187-192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-020-09502-0
Mitteroecker, P., Bartsch, S., Erkinger, C., Grunstra, N., Le Maitre, A., & Bookstein, F. (2020). Morphometric Variation at Different Spatial Scales: Coordination and Compensation in the Emergence of Organismal Form. Systematic Biology, 69(5), 913–926. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa007
Neubauer, S., Gunz, P., Scott, N. A., Hublin, J-J., & Mitteroecker, P. (2020). Evolution of brain lateralization: A shared hominid pattern of endocranial asymmetry is much more variable in humans than in great apes. Science Advances, 6(7), [eaax9935]. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax9935
Pavličev, M., Romero, R., & Mitteroecker, P. (2020). Evolution of the human pelvis and obstructed labor: new explanations of an old obstetrical dilemma. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 222(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.06.043
2019
Grunstra, N. D. S., Zachos, F. E., Herdina, A. N., Fischer, B., Pavlicev, M., & Mitteroecker, P. (2019). Humans as inverted bats: A comparative approach to the obstetric conundrum. American Journal of Human Biology, 31(2), [e23227]. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23227