Justyna Kubacka

Museum and Institute of Zoology of Polish Academy of Sciences · Ornithology Group

Reference genomes as a key biodiversity genomics tool In the midst of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction, species worldwide are declining at an unprecedented rate1 directly impacting ecosystem functioning and services2, human health3 and our resilience to climate disturbances4. Biodiversity and ecosystem decline5,6, loss and degradation raise the pr...

A genomic database of all Earth’s eukaryotic species could contribute to many scientific discoveries; however, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. In 2018, scientists across the world united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), aiming to produce a database of high-quality reference genomes containing all ~1.5 mil...

The link between male song and reproductive success has been explored at length in socially monogamous birds, but results were inconsistent and under-represented socially non-monogamous species with uniparental care. Here, we evaluated whether metrics of male song in Acrocephalus paludicola (Aquatic Warbler), a promiscuous songbird with female-only...

While inbreeding is known to affect individual fitness and thus extinction risk in populations, studies have under-represented non-model species of conservation concern and rarely sought conditionality of inbreeding depression. Here, using SNPs identified with RAD-seq, we determined inbreeding depression in a threatened passerine, the aquatic warbl...

Breeding habitat loss and depletion of genetic diversity can have critically negative impacts on species, and especially so for habitat specialists. The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is a threatened European songbird that breeds in fens, which have been lost and fragmented over centuries. We used microsatellite loci to perform a spatial a...

The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is one of the rarest European passerines and is characterised by promiscuity, lack of pair-bonds and female-only parental care. This makes the species an important model for studying the function of avian courtship song. The song of the Aquatic Warbler consists of whistle and rattle phrases produced as di...

The link between male song and reproductive success has been explored at length in socially monogamous birds. However, results were inconsistent and under-represented socially non-monogamous species with uniparental care. Here, using as a model the aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola , a songbird with no sexual dimorphism, female-only care, pro...

The link between male song and reproductive success has been explored at length in socially monogamous birds, but results were inconsistent and under-represented socially non-monogamous species with uniparental care. Here, we evaluated whether metrics of male song in the aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola , a promiscuous songbird with female-o...

The Aquatic Warbler is one of the rarest European passerines, characterised by promiscuity, lack of pair-bonds and female-only parental care. This makes the species an important model for studying the function of avian courtship song. The song of the Aquatic Warbler consists of whistle and rattle phrases produced as discontinuous A-, B- and C-songs...

Investment in immunity is expected to decrease (costly immunity) or enhance (terminal investment) reproductive performance. Here, we tested the effects of activation of the immune system in female great tits (Parus major) on (1) their reproductive effort and (2) the survival and body condition of their offspring, controlling for chick sex. We injec...

In non-pedigreed populations, insights into effects of inbreeding can be obtained by correlations between individual heterozygosity and fitness-related traits (HFCs). Using an information-theoretic approach, we explored whether heterozygosity of microsatellite markers, measured as internal relatedness (IR), is associated with infection by blood par...

In birds, vector-borne parasites invading the bloodstream are important agents of disease, affect fitness and shape population viability, thus being of conservation interest. Here, we molecularly identified protozoan blood parasites in two populations of the threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola , a migratory passerine nesting in open...

The immune system is a particularly costly activity that competes with other functions of an organism, such as reproduction, although research is lacking on the importance of environmental factors for the parental investment in offspring immunity. This study examines whether ambient temperature impacts the effect of a sheep red blood cell (SRBC) ch...

The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is a globally threatened habitat specialist that breeds in open fens in Central and Eastern Europe. Because bush and reed encroachment threaten many suitable breeding areas, habitat management is necessary to maintain the open wetlands that Aquatic Warblers require for nesting. The effectiveness of mowing...

In the reproduction period a male Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a centralplace forager, i.e. it transports food from hunting grounds to a central location - the nest. A centralplace forager is predicted to take larger or more prey when distance to a foraging site is longer. We studied kestrels breeding in a large Central European city (population...