Tamás Székely (biologist)

Tamás Székely (born 24 May 1959) is a Hungarian born evolutionary biologist, conservationist, and author.

He is a Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Bath,[1] Honorary Professor at the University of Debrecen (Hungary)[2] and visiting Professor at Beijing Normal University (China) and Sun Yat-Sen University (China). Székely was a visiting professor at Harvard University, University of Groningen, Bielefeld[3] and Göttingen.[4]

His research includes phylogenetic analyses, experimental and observational analyses of behaviour in wild populations, and theoretical modelling. His research interests lie predominantly with mating systems and parental behaviour, breeding systems in shorebirds and conservation of wetland birds.

Research

Tamás Székely is an evolutionary biologist interested in the evolution of social behaviour and aspects related to social behaviour: ecology, genetic diversity, neurobiology, theoretical biology and phylogenetics.[5] His work combines different tools, methods and approaches, ranging from genes and genomes to population studies.

Székely started off his early career studying forest birds, then shifted his focus onto shorebirds (Charadriiformes, sandpipers, plovers and allies) as he was interested in the variation that they display in their breeding systems. He now uses shorebirds as model organisms to answer key questions about the evolution of social behaviours.

His current research focusses on two themes 1) the evolution of mating systems, parental care and sex roles where he is trying to understand how male and female reproductive strategies evolved in vertebrates,[6] and 2) the implications of adult sex ratio (ASR) on social and breeding variation[7][8]

Education and career

In 1983 Tamas Székely graduated from Kossuth University (now the University of Debrecen), Hungary, as a teacher of biology and chemistry. In 1983 he undertook his PhD on foraging ecology of forest birds at Kossuth University. After completing his PhD in 1986, he became a research assistant with the Hungarian Ornithological Society in Budapest. After a Soros-scholarship funded post-doctoral research at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Oxford, he took up a lecturer position in animal behaviour at Kossuth University in 1988 and established a behavioural ecology research group in Eastern Europe (the VÖCS), which he led until 1994. Székely continued his university career at the University of Bristol in 1995 and then moved to the University of Bath in 2000, where he became a lecturer and in 2007, a Professor of Biodiversity. In 2010 he founded the Maio Biodiversity Foundation in Cape Verde, a conservation NGO focusing on the protection and conservation of birds, sharks, sea turtles and whales. In 2016, Székely was a Fellow of Institute of Advanced Studies (WIKO) [9] in Berlin and led a research group there. In 2018, he started the ÉLVONAL[10] project funded by the Hungarian Government, a four-year long project focusing on sex role evolution in shorebirds. Székely compiled an international network of scientists working on 30 different shorebird species in 26 locations worldwide towards one common goal.

Awards and recognition

Tamas Szekely holds several awards including the Humboldt Prize Award[4] and the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.[11] Székely became a foreign member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2019.[12] He received the Honorary Plaquette of Kazincbarcika City (Hungary) in 2019, and in 2020 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary (Magyar Érdemrend).

Selected publications
  • Kubelka, V., M. Šálek, P. Tomkovich, Zs. Végvári, R. Freckleton & T. Székely. 2018. Global pattern of nest predation is disrupted by climate change in shorebirds. Science 362: 680-683.[13]
  • Remeš, V., R. P. Freckleton, J. Tökölyi, A. Liker & T. Székely. 2015. The evolution of parental cooperation in birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, US 112: 13603-13608.[14]
  • Pipoly, I., V. Bókony, M. Kirkpatrick, P. F. Donald, T. Székely & A. Liker. 2015. The genetic sex-determination system predicts adult sex ratios in tetrapods. Nature 527: 91 – 94. *Equal contribution.[15]
  • Székely, T., F. J. Weissing & J. Komdeur. 2014. Adult sex ratio variation: implications for breeding system evolution. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 27: 1500-1512.[7]
  • Liker, A., R. P. Freckleton & T. Székely. 2013. The evolution of sex roles in birds is related to adult sex ratio. Nature Communications 4: 1587.[16]
  • Székely, T., A. J. Moore & J. Komdeur (eds). 2010. Social behaviour: genes, ecology and evolution. Cambridge University Press, 1-562.[5]
  • Fairbairn, D., W. Blanckenhorn & T. Székely (eds). 2007. Sex, size and gender roles. Evolutionary studies of sexual size dimorphism. Oxford University Press, 1-266.[17]
  • Houston, A. I., T. Székely & J. M. McNamara. 2005. Conflict over parental care. Trends in Ecol Evol 20: 33-38.[18]
  • Székely, T., R. P. Freckleton & J. D. Reynolds. 2004. Sexual selection explains Rensch’s rule of size dimorphism in shorebirds. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences US 101: 12224 - 12227.[19]
  • Blomqvist D., M. Andersson, C. Küpper, I. C. Cuthill, J. Kis, R. B. Lanctot, B. K. Sandercock, T. Székely, J. Wallander & B. Kempenaers. 2002. Genetic similarity between mates explains extra-pair parentage in three species of waders. Nature 419: 613-615.[20]

References
  1. "Tamas Szekely". the University of Bath's research portal.
  2. "prof. Székely Tamás". biology.unideb.hu.
  3. "PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld". pub.uni-bielefeld.de.
  4. "Prof. Dr. Tamas Szekely". www.humboldt-foundation.de.
  5. Székely, T., A. J. Moore & J. Komdeur (eds). 2010. Social behaviour: genes, ecology and evolution. Cambridge University Press, 1-562.
  6. Vági, B., D. Marsh, G. Katona, Zs. Végvári, R. P. Freckleton, A. Liker, T. Székely. 2022. The evolution of parental care in salamanders. Scientific Reports 12: 16655.
  7. Székely, T., F. J. Weissing & J. Komdeur. 2014. Adult sex ratio variation: implications for breeding system evolution. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 27: 1500-1512.
  8. Schacht, R., S. R. Beissinger, C. Wedekind, M. D. Jennions, B. Geffroy, A. Liker, P. M. Kappeler, F. J. Weissing, K. L. Kramer, T. Hesketh, J. Boissier, C. Uggla, M. Hollingshaus & T. Székely. 2022. Adult sex ratios: causes of variation and implications for animal and human societies. Communications Biology 5: 1273.
  9. "Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin". Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
  10. "ÉLVONAL SHOREBIRD SCIENCE". ÉLVONAL SHOREBIRD SCIENCE.
  11. "Wolfson Research Merit Award - Evolution of Sex Roles: Implications for Environmental Changes".
  12. "Partimadarakkal a világ körül: Viselkedés, evolúció és természetvédelem – Székely Tamás külső tag székfoglaló előadása". 27 February 2020.
  13. Kubelka, V., M. Šálek, P. Tomkovich, Zs. Végvári, R. Freckleton & T. Székely. 2018. Global pattern of nest predation is disrupted by climate change in shorebirds. Science 362: 680-683.
  14. Remeš, V., R. P. Freckleton, J. Tökölyi, A. Liker & T. Székely. 2015. The evolution of parental cooperation in birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, US 112: 13603-13608.
  15. Pipoly, I., V. Bókony, M. Kirkpatrick, P. F. Donald, T. Székely* & A. Liker*. 2015. The genetic sex-determination system predicts adult sex ratios in tetrapods. Nature 527: 91 – 94. *Equal contribution.
  16. Liker, A., R. P. Freckleton & T. Székely. 2013. The evolution of sex roles in birds is related to adult sex ratio. Nature Communications 4: 1587.
  17. Fairbairn, D., W. Blanckenhorn & T. Székely (eds). 2007. Sex, size and gender roles. Evolutionary studies of sexual size dimorphism. Oxford University Press, 1-266.
  18. Houston, A. I., T. Székely & J. M. McNamara. 2005. Conflict over parental care. Trends in Ecol Evol 20: 33-38.
  19. Székely, T., R. P. Freckleton & J. D. Reynolds. 2004. Sexual selection explains Rensch’s rule of size dimorphism in shorebirds. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences US 101: 12224 - 12227.
  20. Blomqvist D., M. Andersson, C. Küpper, I. C. Cuthill, J. Kis, R. B. Lanctot, B. K. Sandercock, T. Székely, J. Wallander & B. Kempenaers. 2002. Genetic similarity between mates explains extra-pair parentage in three species of waders. Nature 419: 613-615.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.