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Auburn University

Wendy Hood Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor

Office Location: 
312 Rouse Life Science Bldg
103 Rouse Life Science Bldg (LAB)

Mailing Address:
Department of Biological Sciences
101 Rouse Life Science Bldg
Auburn University, AL 36849
Tel: (334) 844-7437
Fax: (334) 844-1645
wrhood@auburn.edu
Laboratory Web Page

Education & Employment
2007- present:  Assistant Research Professor, Auburn University
2002-2007: Assistant Professor, Coastal Carolina University
2000-2002: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Fordham University
2001: PhD in Biology, Boston University
1998: MA in Biology, Boston University
1993: BA in Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz


Research & Teaching Interests

Dr. Hood’s research focuses on understanding physiological and behavioral adaptations to limiting dietary nutrients in vertebrates. This has included work on reproductive energetics, mineral demands during lactation and postnatal growth, carotenoids and breeding coloration, fatty acids and hibernation, and foraging behavior. Dr Hood's work has focused on many taxa including bats, pinnipeds, squirrels and chipmunks, finches, and sunfish.

Recent Publications

Hood, W.R, M.B.Voltura, and O.T. Oftedal. In press. Methods of measuring milk composition and yield in small mammals. Pp. 000 in T.H. Kunz and S.Parsons (ed) Ecological and Behavioral Methods for the Study of Bats.

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.

Shawkey, M.D., G.E. Hill, K.J. McGraw, W.R. Hood, and K. Huggins. 2006. An experimental test of contributions and condition dependence of microstructure and carotenoids in yellow plumage coloration. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273:2985-2991.

Frank, C.L., W.R. Hood, and M.C. Donnelly. 2004. The role of a-linolenic acid (18:3) in mammalian torpor. Pp 71-80 inB. M. Barnes and H.V. Carey, eds. Life in the Cold: Evolution, Mechanisms, Adaptation and Application. Institute of Arctic Biology Press.

Hood, W.R., T.H. Kunz, O.T. Oftedal, S.J. Iverson, D. LeBlanc, and J. Seyjagat. 2001. Interspecific and intraspecific variation in the proximate, mineral, and fatty acid composition of milk in Old-World fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 74:134-146.

Kunz, T.H. and W.R. Hood. 2000. Parental effort and postnatal growth in the Chiroptera. Pp. 415-468 in P. Krutzsch and E. Crichton, eds. Reproductive Biology of Bats. Academic Press, San Diego.