Dr. Fabio Alfieri

About my story and my research

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My main research interest is the evolution of the appendicular skeleton in tetrapods, with a particular focus on limb long bones and how they evolved in response to different ecological adaptations, such as lifestyle and locomotor behavior.
 

After completing my BSc (2011–2014) and MSc (2014–2017) at the University of Pisa (Italy), I undertook my PhD at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany) (2018–2022). During these early experiences, I conducted collection-based research and virtual morphological analyses, studying long bone anatomy across several mammalian taxa, with a primary focus on primates and xenarthrans.
 

To achieve this, I employed phylogenetic comparative methods in R and explored different scales of spatial organization — namely, external shape (quantified through 3D geometric morphometrics) and internal bone structure (quantified at both the diaphyseal and epiphyseal levels using cross-sectional properties and trabecular architectural analyses, respectively).

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher, working on ecological drivers of the macroevolution of bird wing bone internal structure, through the project BE-BOST (unraveling Bird Evolution studying BOne STructure), funded by a SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023-2025, https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/217022)