Nicholas Antonson

Languages

English 

Education

B.A. in Biology and Secondary Education, Augustana University, South Dakota
Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown University, Rhode Island

Research Interests

In my lab, we are interested in the links between animal behavior, muscle physiology, development, and evolution. My research focuses on these links to determine the mechanisms for how animal communicate, largely through how skeletal muscle and respiration are used to perform challenging behavioral displays in birds. 

Many animal displays require physically demanding performances: birds compete by drumming, singing, dancing, and begging using muscles that must generate force, resist fatigue, and coordinate breathing and movement. By studying these systems, we ask how physiological performance shapes communication and how communication demands shape the development and evolution of muscles. Birds provide an ideal comparative system because they produce a wide range of signals across different life stages and social contexts. 

In my lab, students can investigate questions related to parent-offspring communication, brood parasitism, muscle fatigue, developmental physiology, and the evolution of parental care solicitation displays.

Current projects I am recruiting students for in 2026 include:
1) The evolution of begging performances in birds
2) Early effects of noise pollution on avian movement and muscle development
3) Begging physiology in brood parasites and hosts

Advising Interests

-Physiology of muscular fatigue and rapid respiration in birds
-Parent-offspring communication
-Embryonic hearing and muscle development
-Brood Parasitism
-Evolution of complex animal displays