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Nicholas Pyenson
Research Geologist and Curator of Fossil Marine MammalsDepartment / Division
Education
- B.S., Emory University
- Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Additional Resources
Learn more about ongoing research in the Pyenson Lab
Research Interests
Evolution and ecology of marine mammals and other marine tetrapods
Publications
Article
- Pyenson, Nick. 2020. "Policy Tales and the Secret Life of Whales." Nature 577 (7791):583–584.
- Valenzuela-Toro, Ana M., Zicos, Maria H., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2020. "Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana." Peerj 8:e9665–e9665. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9665
- Goldbogen, J. A., Cade, D. E., Wisniewska, D. M., Potvin, J., Segre, P. S., Savoca, M. S., Hazen, E. L., Czapanskiy, M. F., Kahane-Rapport, S. R., DeRuiter, S. L., Gero, S., Tonnesen, P., Gough, W. T., Hanson, M. B., Holt, M. M., Jensen, F. H., Simon, M., Stimpert, A. K., Arranz, P., Johnston, D. W., Nowacek, D. P., Parks, S. E., Visser, F., Friedlaender, A. S., Tyack, P. L. et al. 2019. "Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants." Science 366 (6471):1367. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9044
- Leslie, Matthew S., Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Norrisanima miocaena, a new generic name and redescription of a stem balaenopteroid mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Miocene of California." PeerJ 7:31608165. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7629
- McCurry, Matthew R., Evans, Alistair R., Fitzgerald, Erich M. G., McHenry, Colin R., Bevitt, Joseph, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "The repeated evolution of dental apicobasal ridges in aquatic-feeding mammals and reptiles." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 127 (2):245–259. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz025
- McCurry, Matthew R. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Hyper-longirostry and kinematic disparity in extinct toothed whales." Paleobiology 45 (1):21–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.33
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Where to find fantastic beasts at sea." Science 363 (6425):338–339. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav9156
- Shipps, B. K., Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "Borealodon osedax, a new stem mysticete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Washington State and its implications for fossil whale-fall communities." Royal Society Open Science 6 (7):182168–182168. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.182168
- Valenzuela-Toro, Ana and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. "What do we know about the fossil record of pinnipeds? A historiographical investigation." Royal Society Open Science 6 (11):https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191394
- Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, Peredo, Julio S., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2018. "Convergence on dental simplification in the evolution of whales." Paleobiology 44 (3):434–443. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.9
- Peredo, Carlos Mauricio and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2018. "Salishicetus meadi, a new aetiocetid from the late Oligocene of Washington State and implications for feeding transitions in early mysticete evolution." Royal Society Open Science 5 (4):172336–172336. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172336
- Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, Pyenson, Nicholas D., Marshall, Christopher D., and Uhen, Mark D. 2018. "Tooth Loss Precedes the Origin of Baleen in Whales." Current Biology 28 (24):3992–4000 .e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.047
- Boersma, Alexandra T., McCurry, Matthew R., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2017. "A new fossil dolphin Dilophodelphis fordycei provides insight into the evolution of supraorbital crests in Platanistoidea (Mammalia, Cetacea)." Royal Society Open Science 4 (5):https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170022
- Fleming, Alyson H. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2017. "How to Produce Translational Research to Guide Arctic Policy." Bioscience 67 (6):490–493. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix002
- Peredo, Carlos Mauricio and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2017. "Decoupling tooth loss from the evolution of baleen in whales." Frontiers in Marine Science 4:67. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00067
- Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, Pyenson, Nicholas D., Uhen, Mark D., and Marshall, Christopher D. 2017. "Alveoli, teeth, and tooth loss: Understanding the homology of internal mandibular structures in mysticete cetaceans." PloS One 12 (5):1–26. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178243
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2017. "The Ecological Rise of Whales Chronicled by the Fossil Record." Current Biology 27 (11):R558–R564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.001
- Shadwick, Robert E., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Pyenson, Nicholas D., and Whale, James C. A. 2017. "Structure and Function in the Lunge Feeding Apparatus: Mechanical Properties of the Fin Whale Mandible." Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology 300 (11):1953–1962. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23647
- Slater, Graham J., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2017. "Independent evolution of baleen whale gigantism linked to Plio-Pleistocene ocean dynamics." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284 (1855):https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0546
- Boersma, Alexandra T. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2016. "Arktocara yakataga, a new fossil odontocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Oligocene of Alaska and the antiquity of Platanistoidea." PeerJ 4:e2321. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2321
- Le Roux, Jacobus P., Achurra, Luciano, Henríquez, Álvaro, Carreño, Catalina, Rivera, Huber, Suárez, Mario E., Ishman, Scott E., Pyenson, Nicholas D., and Gutstein, Carolina S. 2016. "Oroclinal bending of the Juan Fernández Ridge suggested by geohistory analysis of the Bahía Inglesa Formation, north-central Chile." Sedimentary Geology 333:32–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.003
- O'Dea, Aaron, Lessios, Harilaos A., Coates, Anthony G., Eytan, Ron I., Restrepo-Moreno, Sergio, Cione, Alberto L., Collins, Laurel S., de Queiroz, Alan, Farris, David W., Norris, Richard D., Stallard, Robert F., Woodburne, Michael O., Aguilera, Orangel, Aubry, Marie-Pierre, Berggren, William A., Budd, Ann F., Cozzuol, Mario A., Coppard, Simon E., Duque-Caro, Herman, Finnegan, Seth, Gasparini, German M., Grossman, Ethan L., Johnson, Kenneth G., Keigwin, Lloyd D., Knowlton, Nancy et al. 2016. "Formation of the Isthmus of Panama." Science Advances 2 (8):https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600883
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Parham, James F., and Velez-Juarbe, Jorge. 2016. "The dilemma of trade samples and the importance of museum vouchers-caveats from a study on the extinction of Steller's sea cow: a comment on Crerar et al. (2014)." Biology Letters 12 (2):20150149. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0149
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. and Vermeij, Geerat J. 2016. "The rise of ocean giants: maximum body size in Cenozoic marine mammals as an indicator for productivity in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans." Biology Letters 12 (7):https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0186
- Valenzuela-Toro, Ana, Pyenson, Nicholas D., Gutstein, Carolina S., and Suárez, Mario E. 2016. "A new dwarf seal from the late Neogene of South America and the evolution of pinnipeds in the southern hemisphere." Papers in Palaeontology 2 (1):101–115. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1033
- Yamato, Maya, Khidas, Kamal, Pyenson, Nicholas D., Fordyce, R. Ewan, and Mead, James G. 2016. "Extensively remodeled, fractured cetacean tympanic bullae show that whales can survive traumatic injury to the ears." Journal of anatomy 228 (1):125–136. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12385
- Boersma, Alexandra T. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2015. "Albicetus oxymycterus, a New Generic Name and Redescription of a Basal Physeteroid (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Miocene of California, and the Evolution of Body Size in Sperm Whales." PLoS ONE 10 (12):1–32. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0135551
- Goldbogen, Jeremy, Shadwick, Robert, Lillie, Margo, Piscitelli, Marina, Potvin, Jean, Pyenson, Nicholas D., and Vogl, A. W. 2015. "Using morphology to infer physiology: case studies on rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae)." Canadian journal of zoology 93 (9):687–700. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2014-0311
- Kelley, Neil P. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2015. "Evolutionary innovation and ecology in marine tetrapods from the Triassic to the Anthropocene." Science 348 (6232):https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa3716
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Vélez-Juarbe, Jorge, Gutstein, Carolina S., Little, Holly, Vigil, Dioselina, and O'Dea, Aaron. 2015. "Isthminia panamensis, a new fossil inioid (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Chagres Formation of Panama and the evolution of 'river dolphins' in the Americas." PeerJ 3:1–50. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1227
- Vogl, A. W., Lillie, Margo A., Piscitelli, Marina A., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Pyenson, Nicholas D., and Shadwick, Robert E. 2015. "Stretchy nerves are an essential component of the extreme feeding mechanism of rorqual whales." Current biology 25 (9):R360–R361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.007
- Yamato, Maya and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2015. "Early development and orientation of the acoustic funnel provides insight into the evolution of sound reception pathways in cetaceans." PloS One 10 (3):1–15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118582
- Gutstein, Carolina S., Figueroa-Bravo, Constanza P., Pyenson, Nicholas D., Yury-Yañez, Roberto E., Cozzuol, Mario A., and Canals, Mauricio. 2014. "High frequency echolocation, ear morphology, and the marine-freshwater transition: A comparative study of extant and extinct toothed whales." Palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology 400:62–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.01.026
- Gutstein, Carolina Simon, Cozzuol, Mario Alberto, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2014. "The Antiquity of Riverine Adaptations in Iniidae (Cetacea, Odontoceti) Documented by a Humerus from the Late Miocene of the Ituzaingó Formation, Argentina." Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology 297 (6):1096–1102. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.22901
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Gutstein, Carolina S., Parham, James F., Le Roux, Jacobus P., Chavarria, Catalina C., Little, Holly, Metallo, Adam, Rossi, Vincent, Valenzuela-Toro, Ana M., Velez-Juarbe, Jorge, Santelli, Cara M., Rogers, David R., Cozzuol, Mario A., and Suarez, Mario E. 2014. "Repeated mass strandings of Miocene marine mammals from Atacama Region of Chile point to sudden death at sea." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281 (1781):https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3316
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Kelley, Neil P., and Parham, James F. 2014. "Marine tetrapod macroevolution: Physical and biological drivers on 250 Ma of invasions and evolution in ocean ecosystems." Palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology 400:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.02.018
- Debey, Lauren B. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2013. "Osteological correlates and phylogenetic analysis of deep diving in living and extinct pinnipeds: What good are big eyes?." Marine Mammal Science 29 (1):48–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00545.x
- Noakes, Scott E., Pyenson, Nicholas D., and McFall, Greg. 2013. "Late Pleistocene gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) offshore Georgia, U.S.A., and the antiquity of gray whale migration in the North Atlantic Ocean." Palaeogeography palaeoclimatology palaeoecology 392:502–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.10.005
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2013. [Book review] "Ecology and Conservation of the Sirenia: Dugongs and Manatees by Helene Marsh, Thomas J. O'Shea, and John E. Reynolds." The Quarterly review of biology. 88 (1):42–43. https://doi.org/10.1086/669272
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., and Shadwick, Robert E. 2013. "Mandible allometry in extant and fossil Balaenopteridae (Cetacea: Mammalia): the largest vertebrate skeletal element and its role in rorqual lunge feeding." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 108 (3):586–599. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.02032.x
- Shadwick, Robert E., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Potvin, Jean, Pyenson, Nicholas D., and Vogl, Wayne. 2013. "Novel muscle and connective tissue design enables high extensibility and controls engulfment volume in lunge-feeding rorqual whales." Journal of experimental biology 216:2691–2701. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.081752
- Valenzuela-Toro, Ana M., Gutstein, Carolina S., Varas-Malca, Rafael M., Suarez, Mario E., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2013. "Pinniped Turnover in the South Pacific Ocean: New Evidence from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Atacama Desert, Chile." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33 (1):216–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.710282
- Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Calambokidis, John, Croll, Donald A., McKenna, Megan F., Olseson, Erin, Potvin, Jean, Pyenson, Nicholas D., Schorr, Greg, Shadwick, Robert E., and Tershy, Bernie R. 2012. "Scaling of lunge feeding performance in rorqual whales: mass-specific energy expenditure increases with body size and progressively limits diving capacity." Functional Ecology 26 (1):216–226. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01905.x
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Vogl, A. Wayne, Szathmary, Gabor, Drake, Richard L., and Shadwick, Robert E. 2012. "Discovery of a sensory organ that coordinates lunge feeding in rorqual whales." Nature 485 (7399):498–501. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11135
- Velez-Juarbe, Jorge, Domning, Daryl P., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2012. "Iterative Evolution of Sympatric Seacow (Dugongidae, Sirenia) Assemblages during the Past ~26 Million Years." PLoS ONE 7 (2):1–8. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031294
- Vélez-Juarbe, Jorge and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2012. "Bohaskaia monodontoides, a new monodontid (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Delphinoidea) from the Pliocene of the western North Atlantic Ocean." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32 (2):476–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2012.641705
- Goldbogen, J. A., Calambokidis, J., Oleson, E., Potvin, J., Pyenson, Nicholas D., Schorr, G., and Shadwick, R. E. 2011. "Mechanics, hydrodynamics and energetics of blue whale lunge feeding: efficiency dependence on krill density." Journal of Experimental Biology 214 (1):131–146. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.048157
- McKenna, Megan F., Cranford, Ted W., Berta, Annalisa, and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2011. "Morphology of the odontocete melon and its implications for acoustic function." Marine Mammal Science 28 (4):690–713. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00526.x
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2011. "The high fidelity of the cetacean stranding record: insights into measuring diversity by integrating taphonomy and macroecology." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278 (1724):3608–3616. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0441
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. and Lindberg, David R. 2011. "What Happened to Gray Whales during the Pleistocene? The Ecological Impact of Sea-Level Change on Benthic Feeding Areas in the North Pacific Ocean." PLoS ONE 6 (7):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021295
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. and Sponberg, Simon N. 2011. "Reconstructing body size in extinct crown Cetacea (Neoceti) using allometry, phylogenetic methods and tests from the fossil record." Journal of Mammalian Evolution 18 (4):269–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-011-9170-1
- Uhen, Mark D., Pyenson, Nicholas D., Devries, Thomas J., Urbina, Mario, and Renne, Paul R. 2011. "New Middle Eocene Whales from the Pisco Basin of Peru." Journal of Paleontology 85 (5):955–969. https://doi.org/10.1666/10-162.1
- Parham, James F. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2010. "New Sea Turtle from the Miocene of Peru and the Iterative Evolution of Feeding Ecomorphologies since the Cretaceous." Journal of Paleontology 84 (2):231–247. https://doi.org/10.1666/09-077R.1
- Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2010. "Carcasses on the coastline: measuring the ecological fidelity of the cetacean stranding record in eastern North Pacific Ocean." Paleobiology 36 (3):453–480. https://doi.org/10.1666/09018.1
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Irmis, Randall B., and Lipps, Jere H. 2010. "Comment on "Climate, Critters, and Cetaceans: Cenozoic Drivers of the Evolution of Modern Whales"." Science 330 (6001):178. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1189866
- Uhen, M. D. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2007. "Diversity estimates, biases, and historiographic effects: Resolving cetacean diversity in the tertiary." Palaeontologia Electronica 10 (2):11A–11A.
Dataset
- Leslie, Matthew S., Peredo, Carlos M., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. [Dataset] "Dataset for Leslie, Peredo & Pyenson 2019." Distributed by Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3431395
- Leslie, Matthew S., Peredo, Carlos M., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. [Dataset] "Dataset for Leslie, Peredo & Pyenson 2019." Distributed by Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3245500
- Leslie, Matthew S., Peredo, Carlos M., and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2019. [Dataset] "Dataset for Leslie, Peredo & Pyenson 2019." Distributed by Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3245499
- Boersma, Alexandra T. and Pyenson, Nicholas D. 2015. [Dataset] "Dataset For Boersma And Pyenson 2015 Plosone." Distributed by Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.23029
- Pyenson, Nicholas D., Velez-Juarbe, Jorge, Gutstein, Carolina S., Little, Holly, Vigil, Dioselina, and O'Dea, Aaron. 2015. [Dataset] "Dataset For Pyenson Et Al. 2015 Peerj." Distributed by Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.27214
Book
- Pyenson, Nick. 2018. Spying on whales: the past, present, and future of earth's most awesome creatures. New York, New York (2018): Viking.