The evolution and functional morphology of primate sensory systems, primate sensory ecology, and primate evolution; primate eye morphology and visual acuity; Eocene fossils from West Texas; psychophysical tests of visual acuity in black lemurs and studies of auditory ecology in indriids
Dr. Kirk's current areas of research include: (1) the functional morphology of the primate cochlear labyrinth, (2) the influence of habitat acoustics on lemur vocal communication, (3) the relationship between eye morphology and activity pattern, (4) primate brain evolution, (5) the evolution of manual grasping in primates and other arboreal mammals, and (6) alpha taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Eocene primates.