Monika Bukacińska, Ph.D.

e-mail: m.bukacinska@uksw.edu.pl

Study objects: gulls and terns. Study area: the middle course of the Vistula River. Main study interests: (a) reproductive costs, breeding strategies and life history in different habitats and population conditions; (b) relationships between social structure of population and alternative breeding strategies and altruistic behaviour (extra-pair fertilization, intra-specific brood parasitism, adoptions, etc.); (c) brood sex ratio and lately (d) habitat protection and active species protection in Lari. Co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Member of  the British Ornithological Union, Ornithological Societies of North America, the International Society of Behavioral Ecology and Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Specialization:
Biological Sciences, Population Ecology, Behavioural Ecology, Molecular Ecology, Nature Conservation

 

Post fulfilled:

  • Head of Laboratory of Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology
  • Member of Faculty Commission for Scientific Staff and Awards
  • Member of  Faculty Commission for Scientific Research and  National and International Cooperation

 

Master Thesis:
„Teritoriality in the Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus” (1990)

 

Doctoral dissertation:
„The effect of parental care on the breeding success of Common Gulls (L. canus)” (1999)

Membership in Scientific Organizations and Associations:

  • Association for Study Animal Behaviour
  • International Society for Behavioural Ecology
  • British Ornitological Society
  • American Ornithologists Union
  • Cooper Ornithological Society

 

Grants, projects, expert’s statement, scientific research:

  • Breeding behaviour and mating strategies in a colony of Common Gull at Vistula River using DNA-fingerprinting, 1997–1998, Short-term DAAD Fellowship (principal investigator, DAAD fellow), Institute of Applied Zoology at Bonn University, Germany.
  • The effect of predation and nesting habitat on the relationships between territory size, the level of aggression and breeding success in Common Gull (L. canus), 2000–2003, 6PO4F 058 15 The State Committee for Scientific Research (Staff member).
  • Short- and long-term consequences of increased parental investment during egg laying and incubating in Common Gulls (Larus   canus) – experiments, 2000–2004,  6 P04F 031 19 The State Committee for Scientific Research (principal investigator).
  • Proximate and ultimate causes of extra-pair fertilization in Common Gulls (Larus  canus): DNA-fingerprinting analyses, 2000–2002, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (participation in the research project), Institute of Biology and Evolutionary Ecology, Bonn University, Germany.
  • Proximate and ultimate causes of extra-pair fertilization in Common Gulls (Larus canus): DNA-fingerprinting analyses – continuation, 2002–2003, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (participation in the research project), Institute of Biology and Evolutionary Ecology, Bonn University, Germany.
  • Family sex ratio and reproductive strategies in Common Gulls in an unstable environment: a role of parental condition and food availability, 2002–2003, NATO Advanced Fellowship Programme (principal investigator, NATO fellow), Institute of Biology and Evolutionary Ecology, Bonn University, Germany.
  • Proximate and ultimate causes of adoption in colonies of Common Gulls (Larus canus): behavioural observations, experiments and genetic analyses, 2003–2007, 2 PO4F 028 26. The State Committee for Scientific Research (Staff member).
  • Protection of birds breeding at islands of middle Vistula River, 2005–2006,  Project granted by the GEF Small Grants Programme Poland GEF SGP (staff member).
  • Protection of endangered birds species at islands of the middle Vistula River, 2008–2009, 1428/463/IV/07, EkoFund Foundation (staff member).
  • -Preservation of the effects of the active protection  of the endangered avifauna on the islands of the Middle Vistula River, 2010, 1701/544/IV/10, EkoFund Foundation (staff member).
  • Determinants of brood sex ratio in Lari: the effect of size dimorphism, habitat and parental condition, 2011–2016,  N N304 138540 National Science Centre (staff member).
  • Active protection of the endangered avifauna on the area of SPA for birds – Middle Vistula Valley: continuation, 2011–2014, POIS.05.01.00-00-325/10.00 (coordinator of the project).

Selected publication:

  • Bukacińska M., Bukaciński D., Spaans A.L., (1996), Attendance and diet in relation to  breeding success in Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus). “Auk” 113: 300-309.
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., Spaans A.L., (1998), Experimental evidence for the  relationship between food supply, parental effort and chick survival in the Lesser Black‑backed Gulls Larus fuscus. “Ibis” 140: 422-430.
  • Bukacińska M., Bukaciński D., Epplen J.T., Sauer K.P., Lubjuhn T., (1998), Low frequency of extra-pair paternity in Common Gulls (Larus canus) as revealed by DNA fingerprinting. “Journal of Ornithology” 139: 413-420.
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., Lubjuhn T., (2000), Adoption of chicks and the level of relatedness in Common Gull, Larus canus colonies: DNA fingerprinting analyses.  “Animal Behaviour” 59: 289-299.
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., (2000), The impact of mass outbreaks of black flies (Simuliidae) on the parental behaviour and breeding output of colonial common gulls (Larus canus). “Annales Zoologici Fennici” 37: 43-49.
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., (2003), Larus canus Common Gull, in Birds of Western Palearctic Update 5 (ed.) D. Parkin, Oxford Univ. Press, 36 p.
  • Seather B.-E., Engen S., Moller A.P., Weimerskirch H., Visser M.E., Fiedler W., Matthysen E., Lambrechts M.M., Badyaev A., Becker P.H., Brommer J.E., Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., Christensen H., Dickinson J., du Feu C., Gehlbach F.R., Heg D., Hotker H., Merila J., Nielsen J.T., Rendell W., Robertson R.J. ,  Thomson D., Torok J., Van Hecke  P., (2004), Life history variation predicts stochastic effects on avian population dynamics. “American Naturalist” 164: 793-802.
  • Gwiazda R., Bukaciński D., Neubauer G., Faber M., Betleja J., Zagalska-Neubauer M., Bukacińska M., Chylarecki P., (2011), Diet composition of the Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans) in inland Poland: effects of breeding area, breeding stage and sympatric breeding with the Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), „Ornis Fennica” 88: 80-89.
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., (2015), Key Species of Waders on the Middle Vistula River: biology, ecology, conservation and occurrence. Monographs. STOP, Warsaw, 314 p., (in Polish, shortened versions in English, German and French).
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., Mastalerz E., (2015), The human pressure on the middle Vistula River wildlife: the number and distribution of people and their activity on the river during the breeding season of birds] „Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae” 13: 143-177, (in Polish with English summary).
  • Bukaciński D., Bukacińska M., Chylarecki P., (2020), Effect of food availability on offspring sex ratios inreplacement clutches of Mew Gulls (Larus canus) and Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in the highly unstable environment of the Vistula River. “Journal for Ornithology” https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01761-0