Dr. Nicholas Ryan Friedman

Research Interests

Scientific Career

• Since 2022 – Curator of Ornithology at Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change
• 2020-2022 – Head of Environmental Informatics, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
• 2015-2020 – Postdoctoral Researcher, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
• 2013-2015 – Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology & Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacky University in Olomouc
• 2007-2012 – Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Maryland Baltimore County
• 2007 – Field Assistant, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
• 2006 – Field Assistant, Atlantic Bird Observatory

Academic Education

• 2007-2012 – Doctoral Thesis “The evolution of carotenoid coloration and pigmentation in the New World blackbirds”; Supervisor: Prof. Kevin E. Omland, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• 2002-2006 – Bachelor of Arts in Biology, with Honors Thesis “Reconstructing song evolution in the New World orioles”; Supervisor: J. Jordan Price, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Selected Publications

• Friedman, N. R., V. Remes. Plumage color evolves as distinct dorsal and ventral modules in Australasian honeyeaters. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.23.504757
• Friedman, N. R. 2022. Idea paper: An envelope model of ecological disturbance. Ecological Research 37, 455-460.
• Fischer, G., N. R. Friedman, J.-P. Huang, N. Narula, L. L. Knowles, B. L. Fisher, A. S. Mikheyev, E. P. Economo. 2020. Socially parasitic ants evolve a mosaic of host-matching and parasitic morphological traits. Current Biology 30, 3639-3646.
• Friedman, N. R., E. T. Miller, J. R. Ball, H. Kasuga, V. Remes*, E. P. Economo*. 2019. Evolution of a multifunctional trait: shared effects of foraging ecology and thermoregulation on beak morphology, with consequences for song evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286, 20192474.
• Ross, S. R.-P. J*, N. R. Friedman*, K. L. Dudley, M. Yoshimura, T. Yoshida, E. P. Economo. 2017. Listening to ecosystems: data-rich acoustic monitoring through landscape-scale sensor networks. Ecological Research, 1-13.