Nick Freymueller
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smilodontology.bsky.social
Nick Freymueller
@smilodontology.bsky.social
Paleoecology postdoc based in 🇩🇰/🇦🇺. I study past/present extinctions so we can stop future ones. Currently working on Arctic megafauna 🐋. Alaskan. FRY-myoo-ler
Yesterday I successfully defended my joint-PhD between the University of Copenhagen and the University of Adelaide! I am now officially Dr. Nick!

And I also received favorable reviews and minor revisions on my two in-review chapters the same day!

#phdone 🐋🐋
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 AM
FAMM is by far the largest #fossil database (~3400 specimens), including 3 #Whale 🐋 species, #PolarBear 🐻‍❄️, #Walrus, 6 #Seal species 🦭, and the Steller's Sea Cow.

FAMM is also the FIRST fossil database to harmonize #Radiocarbon ☢️, #StableIsotopes ⚛️, and #AncientDNA 🧬 at the specimen level!

🧵 2/🦴
September 19, 2025 at 4:10 AM
🐋 🐻‍❄️ 🦭 MASSIVE NEW FOSSIL DATABASE 🐋 🐻‍❄️ 🦭

Our FAMM (Fossil Arctic Marine Mammal) database has now been published #OpenAccess in Global Ecology and Biogeography!

Come learn about the cool stuff you can do with #Arctic #fossil material and bio-molecular archives! ☢️ ⚛️ 🧬

Link and thread below!

🧵 1/🦴
September 19, 2025 at 4:10 AM
🐋 Big commercial whaling paper (and my last PhD chapter) just submitted to PNAS! 🐋
September 12, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Finally submitted this puppy, yesterday after nearly four years. Defense coming in September. #PhDone
June 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
🐋 ANOTHER ONE 🐋 !!!

We have a hot new #bowhead #whale preprint out now on @biorxiv-bioinfo.bsky.social, co-led with @mick2474.bsky.social !

We show what is possible when you integrate genomic and ecological data to tell an insightful story about this charismatic #Arctic endemic! 🧬

Thread: 1/🐋
May 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM
We found that bowhead whale suitable habitat was broadly stable throughout the Holocene, despite known climatic fluctuations.

However, their future habitat is expected to contract by up to 75% due to melting sea ice!

In the Sea of Okhotsk, we project all suitable habitat to vanish by 2060!

4/🐋
May 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
To overcome this, we built ecological niche models using the expansive bowhead whale #fossil record, historical harvests from #whaling logbooks, and contemporary sightings from across the bowhead whale circumpolar range.

3/🐋
May 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Bowhead whales are highly associated with #Arctic sea ice, meaning that future ice melting could cause #habitat contractions.

However, our understanding of this species' resilience to future climate change may be biased as they are still recovering from commercial #whaling.

2/🐋
May 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
🐋 WHALE PAPER ALERT! 🐋

My 2nd #PhD Chapter is now out #OpenAccess in @ecol-evol.bsky.social where we built a 11,700 year-long ecological baseline of #bowhead whales in the #Arctic

Thread 1/🐋
May 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Yesterday was #WorldBearDay.

And it's only fitting that I just submitted a MASSIVE #fossil database paper on #PolarBear 🐻‍❄️ and 11 other Arctic marine mammal species (🐋 + 🦭 & more)!

After nearly four years of work, there are BIG things to come in the Fossil Arctic Marine Mammal space! 🦴 ☢️ ⚛️ 🧬 #PhD
March 24, 2025 at 10:08 AM
🐋 My 2nd PhD chapter is now a pre-print! 🐋
We used 11,700 years of #bowhead whale data to chronicle their responses to past climate change!
We found stable #Holocene habitat suitability, but future suitable area will harshly decline due to melting #Arctic sea ice!
www.authorea.com/doi/full/10....
🐋
January 30, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Hello BlueSky!
My research reveals the causes, processes, and consequences of extinction 💀
I often combine historical- & paleo-archives with ecological modeling approaches, increasingly from a Bayesian perspective 🦴⚛️🧬
Currently in the final 6 months of a PhD between 🇩🇰/🇦🇺 on Arctic marine megafauna! 🐋
November 15, 2024 at 2:32 AM