I use ecological stoichiometry to study the limitations imposed on organisms due to mismatches between their nutritional demands and the supply of nutrients in their environment. My work focuses on two examples of herbivore life histories shaped by the stoichiometries of their food, representing the extremes of feeding strategies: (1) nutrient-deficient dead wood exploited by xylophages and (2) nutrient-rich pollen used by bees. My current research activities concern sexual dimorphism in the nutritional needs of bees and the effects of taxonomically diverse floral resources on bees.
Experience
–present
Environmental Biologist, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
Stoichiometric niche, nutrient partitioning and resource allocation in a solitary bee are sex-specific and phosphorous is allocated mainly to the cocoon, Scientific Reports
2020
Sexual Dimorphism in the Multielemental Stoichiometric Phenotypes and Stoichiometric Niches of Spiders, Insects
2020
The Scarcity of Specific Nutrients in Wild Bee Larval Food Negatively Influences Certain Life History Traits, Biology
2020
Ants Co-Occurring with Predatory Antlions Show Unsuccessful Rescue Behavior towards Captured Nestmates, Journal of Insect Behavior
2019
Key pollen host plants provide balanced diets for wild bee larvae: A lesson for planting flower strips and hedgerows, Journal of Applied Ecology
2018
A Better Understanding of Bee Nutritional Ecology Is Needed to Optimize Conservation Strategies for Wild Bees—The Application of Ecological Stoichiometry, Insects
2018
Nutrient Dynamics in Decomposing Dead Wood in the Context of Wood Eater Requirements: The Ecological Stoichiometry of Saproxylophagous Insects, Saproxylic Insects
2017
Ecological stoichiometry of the honeybee: Pollen diversity and adequate species composition are needed to mitigate limitations imposed on the growth and development of bees by pollen quality, PLOS ONE
2017
Predation Cues in Solitary bee Nests, Journal of Insect Behavior
2017
Nutritional dynamics during the development of xylophagous beetles related to changes in the stoichiometry of 11 elements, Physiological Entomology
2017
Plant–insect interactions: the role of ecological stoichiometry, Acta Agrobotanica
2016
Pollen Stoichiometry May Influence Detrital Terrestrial and Aquatic Food Webs, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
2016
Sedentary antlion larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) use vibrational cues to modify their foraging strategies, Animal Cognition
2016
Fungal Transformation of Tree Stumps into a Suitable Resource for Xylophagous Beetles via Changes in Elemental Ratios, Insects
2014
How to Make a Beetle Out of Wood: Multi- Elemental Stoichiometry of Wood Decay, Xylophagy and Fungivory, Plos One
Grants and Contracts
2020
Nutrition as critical link between Biodiversity and Bee health
Role:
WP Leader
Funding Source:
European Commission
2020
Nutritional ecology of bees: balancing bee nutrient demands and nutrient supply with a diversity of pollen sources
Role:
Principal Investigator
Funding Source:
National Science Centre, Poland
2013
The stoichiometric balance of a herbivore feeding on a concentrated sustenance: the pollen, Osmia bicornis (=O. rufa, hymenoptera: Megachilidae)