Wendy R. Hood - Faculty - Biological Sciences - Auburn University College of Sciences and Mathematics

Wendy R. Hood
Assistant Professor

Office Location:
312 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.
Ph: (334) 844-7437

Lab Location:
103 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.
Ph: (334) 844-9269

Mailing Address:
101 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg.
Auburn University, AL 36849
Fax: (334) 844-1645
Email Wendy R. Hood
The Hood Lab Webpage

Education

Ph.D. - Boston University (2001)
M.A. - Boston University (1998)
B.A. - University of California, Santa Cruz (1993)

Research & Teaching Interests

The primary focus of research in the Hood lab is understanding the interactions between nutrition, physiology and fitness in vertebrates. We are interested in factors that contribute to variation in both maternal and offspring performance including 1) maternal food intake and use of somatic tissues stores by mothers and 2) maternal diet and its effect on the physiological phenotype of offspring. Importantly, we are interested in how individual differences in these variables impact reproductive output on longevity. Our recent research subjects have included bats, mice, ground squirrel, seals, finches, bluebirds and hummingbirds. I teach Comparative Anatomy.

Selected Publications

Skibiel, A.M. and W.R. Hood. In press. Milk composition in a hibernating rodent; the Columbian ground squirrel (Urocitellus columbianus). Journal of Mammalogy.

Schmidt, C.M. and W.R. Hood. 2012. Calcium availability influences litter size and sex ratio in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). PLoS One 7(8): e41402.

Hood W.R. 2012. A Test of Bone Mobilization Relative to Reproductive Demand: Skeletal Quality Is Improved in Cannibalistic Females With Large Litters. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 85:385-396.

Hood W.R., O.T. Oftedal, T.H. Kunz. 2011. Is tissue maturation necessary for flight? Changes in body composition during postnatal development in the big brown bat. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 181:423-435.

Booher, C.M. and W.R. Hood. 2010. Calcium utilization during reproduction in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Journal of Mammalogy 91:952-959.

Hood, W.R., M.B. Voltura, and O.T. Oftedal. 2009. Methods of measuring milk composition and yield in small mammals. Pp. 529-553 in T.H. Kunz and S. Parsons (ed) Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Hood, W.R., O.T. Oftedal, T.H. Kunz. 2006. Variation in body composition of female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) during lactation. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 176:807-819.