Marguerite Butler Research Group

University of Hawai’i at Mānoa

Why do animals take different forms, and what do those differences allow them to do? Butler studies the relationship between body design, environmental demands, and evolutionary history. A particular focus is sexual dimorphism: differences between females and males that affect function or ecology. Examining these differences offers a way to investigate the biological meaning of variation in form. Her research connects animal functional morphology with adaptive evolution, asking how the shapes organisms inherit and the pressures they encounter together influence their ecological roles.