Current Member - Marta Szulkin
Junior Research Fellow
Marta Szulkin
Details
Marta Szulkin's web page has moved to http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/people/researchfellows/marta_szulkin.htm
Name: Marta Szulkin
Position: Junior Research Fellow
Email: marta.szulkin@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Autobiography
After 4 years of Biology at the University of Warsaw, Poland, I came to Oxford in 2002 for an MSc in Integrated Bioscience, where I carried out projects on avian sex ratios and raptor phylogenetics using ancient DNA. In 2004 I graduated as MSc in Biology at the University of Warsaw, where I specialised in hydrobiology. I have now submitted my DPhil thesis in ecological genetics, supervised by Prof. Ben Sheldon, and awaiting for my viva planned for January 2008. I have been appointed as Fellow by Examination in Biology at Magdalen College, starting in October 2007, where I will be further developing my interests in evolutionary biology.
Research Activities
The aim of my DPhil was to investigate inbreeding and inbreeding avoidance in a wild bird population, the great tit Parus major in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire. This model system allows to have great insight into biologically meaningful processes affecting free-living individuals in the wild, with a special focus on within-individual genetic variation. This research aimed to integrate a wide array of techniques used in biological sciences, such as (i) handling databases compiling extensive biological information on over 75 000 individuals collected over 60 years in Wytham Woods, (ii) extensive statistical analyses, (iii) field work involving the monitoring of breeding biology in the great tit, Parus major, and finally (iv) the use of molecular techniques to infer DNA characteristics from blood samples collected in the field. By looking at the causes, consequences of inbreeding and means of inbreeding avoidance, this study characterised the nature of inbreeding from several angles; it aimed to bring new insight into the importance of inbreeding in an evolutionary context, and may be of interest to those involved with conservation genetics and the management of fragmented populations.
Selected Recent Papers
Szulkin, M. & Sheldon, B.C. 2008. Correlates of the occurrence of inbreeding in a wild bird population. Behavioral Ecology. In press.
Szulkin, M. & Sheldon, B.C. 2008. Dispersal as a means of inbreeding avoidance in a wild bird population. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 275, 703-711
Szulkin, M. & Sheldon, B.C. 2007. The environmental dependence of inbreeding depression in a wild bird population. PLoS One 2, e1027 1-7. | Read abstract/paper online
Szulkin, M., Garant, D., McCleery, R.H. & Sheldon, B.C. 2007. Inbreeding depression along a life-history continuum in the Great tit. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20, 1531-1543. | Read abstract/paper online
Szulkin, M. & Sheldon, B.C. 2006. Inbreeding: When parents transmit more than genes. Current Biology 16, 810-812. | Read abstract/paper online
Bierne, N., Bonhomme, F., Boudry, P., Szulkin, M., David, P. 2006. Fitness landscapes support the dominance theory of post-zygotic isolation in the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 273, 1253-1260. | Read abstract/paper online
Szulkin, M., Dawidowicz, P., Dodson, S.I. 2006. Behavioural uniformity as a response to cues of predation risk. Animal Behaviour. 71, 1013-1019. | Read abstract/paper online
Bunce, M., Szulkin, M., Lerner, H.R.L., Barnes, I., Shapiro, B., Cooper, A. and Holdaway, R. 2005. "Ancient DNA provides new insights into the evolutionary history of New Zealand's extinct giant eagle." PLoS Biology 3, 44-46. | Read abstract/paper online
Download complete list of publications in PDF format
