Dr. Justyna Wolinska

Mail Justyna Wolinska
Phone national: 089/218074 - 201
international: +49 89 218074 - 201
Office B 02.001

I am evolutionary ecologist and my research focuses on the phenomenon of genetic polymorphism and its potential drivers: parasites. My research combines experimental and field approaches, as well as analysis of molecular markers. As a model system, I am using water fleas of the genus Daphnia, and their various microparasites.

Why don’t populations/communities consist solely of the fittest genotype/species? Any common genotype is at a strong disadvantage because parasites adapt to this common host and, consequently, drive its frequency down. Thus, hosts and parasites could enter into a never-ending cycling of genotypes leading to the long-term maintenance of genetic polymorphism in both the host and parasite populations. Although such Red Queen dynamics were originally considered to operate only among genotypes within a single species, I am also looking for the evidence of parasite-driven frequency dependent selection in hybridizing systems, i.e. between parental and hybrid taxa. In existing literature the differences in infection levels between parental species and hybrids are considered to be fixed. My research challenges this idea as we’ve found that within the Daphnia hybridizing complex, the species that was rare and under-infected increased in frequency and subsequently became over-infected ( Wolinska et al. 2006). I believe that coevolutionary oscillations generated by frequency-dependent selection might provide a better explanation for the infection patterns than does a static genetic perspective of host resistance ( Wolinska et al. 2008).

Keywords
coevolution, Daphnia, frequency-dependence, hybridization, hybrid fitness, parasitism, phenotypic plasticity, Red Queen

Sampling in the Alps and ....

... in Indiana

Curriculum vitae

Publications

Wolinska, J., Giessler, S., and H. Koerner. 2009. Molecular identification and hidden diversity of novel Daphnia parasites from European lakes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75: in press.

Wolinska, J. and K. King. 2009. Environment can alter selection in host-parasite interactions. Trends in Parasitology 25: 236-244.

Wolinska, J. and P. Spaak. 2009. The cost of being common: evidence from natural Daphnia populations. Evolution 63: 1893-1901.

Wolinska, J., King, K. C., Vigneux F., and C. M. Lively. 2008. Virulence, cultivating conditions, and phylogenetic analyses of oomycete parasites in Daphnia. Parasitology 135: 1667-1678. PDF

Wolinska, J. and C. M. Lively. 2008. The cost of males in Daphnia pulex. Oikos 117: 1637-1646. PDF

Keller, B., J. Wolinska, M. Manca, and P. Spaak. 2008. Spatial, environmental, and anthropogenic effect on the taxon composition of hybridizing Daphnia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Theme issue Hybridization 363: 2943-2952.

Wolinska , J., C. M. Lively, and P. Spaak. 2008. Parasites in hybridizing communities: the Red Queen again? Trends in Parasitology 24:121-126.

Wolinska , J., B. Keller, M. Manca, and P. Spaak. 2007. Parasite survey of a Daphnia hybrid complex: host-specificity and environment determine infection. Journal of Animal Ecology 76:191-200.

Wolinska , J., A. Löffler, and P. Spaak. 2007. Taxon specific reaction norms to predator cues in a hybrid Daphnia complex. Freshwater Biology 52:1198-1209.

Keller, B., J. Wolinska, C. Tellenbach, and P. Spaak. 2007. Reproductive isolation keeps hybridizing Daphnia species distinct. Limnology and Oceanography 52:984-991.

Tellenbach, C., J. Wolinska, and P. Spaak. 2007. Epidemiology of a Daphnia brood parasite and its implications on host life-history traits. Oecologia 154:369-375.

Wolinska , J., K. Bittner, D. Ebert, and P. Spaak. 2006. The coexistence of hybrid and parental Daphnia: the role of parasites. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 273:1977-1983.

Fyda, J., A. Warren, and J. Wolinska. 2005. An investigation of predator-induced defence responses in ciliated protozoa. Journal of Natural History 39:1431-1442.

Lass, S., M. Vos, J. Wolinska, and P. Spaak. 2005. Hatching with the enemy: Daphnia diapausing eggs hatch in the presence of fish kairomones. Chemoecology 15:7-12.

Wolinska , J., B. Keller, K. Bittner, S. Lass, and P. Spaak. 2004. Do parasites lower Daphnia hybrid fitness? Limnology and Oceanography 49:1401-1407. PDF

Löffler, A., J. Wolinska, B. Keller, K. O. Rothhaupt, and P. Spaak. 2004. Life history patterns of parental and hybrid Daphnia differ between lakes. Freshwater Biology 48:1372-1380.

Collaborators

Curt Lively
Indiana University, Department of Biology, USA

Kayla King
Indiana University, Department of Biology, USA

Jaromir Seda
Biological Centre AS CR, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Adam Petrusek
Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic

Melania Cristescu
University of Windsor, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Canada

Piet Spaak
Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland

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