Alumni Spotlight #2 Cristina Carmona Isunza
During my undergraduate studies, I participated in a project focused on sibling aggression among Blue Footed Boobies (Sula nebouxii) on Isabel Island, Mexico. This experience not only acquainted me with various PhD students and their research but also ignited my passion for becoming a researcher. Despite encountering obstacles along the way, I successfully managed to enrol in a PhD program.
Throughout my four years in Tamás Székely's Lab (2012-2016), I was enthralled to be a Mexican student studying a PhD under Tamás in the UK. My project aimed to unravel the behavioural differences among plovers with diverse mating systems, and I took charge of the fieldwork with plovers in Cabo Verde.
The most challenging yet intriguing aspect of my PhD was the observation of courtship behaviour among plovers in the field. This demanded considerable patience and training. Tamás meticulously guided me through the process, dedicating numerous hours to recording courtship behaviour in Cabo Verde until he was confident in my ability to conduct it independently. Subsequently, I recorded courtship behaviour among snowy plovers (Charadrius nivosus) in Mexico, marking the most demanding yet gratifying phase of my PhD.
My time in Tamás Székely's Lab not only moulded me as a researcher but also involved me in compelling projects beyond my PhD, fostering my professional growth. Presently, I maintain collaborative efforts with Tamás and other core collaborators of his.
One of the things I will always remember from my stay in Bath was the weekly lab meetings where there would ALWAYS be cake….and not just any cake…. several cakes and all of them amazingly delicious. I remember that for my whole first year I ignored the cakes (as I don’t usually like very sweet cakes) but one day I tried them, and I was amazed by them and really angry that I had missed a whole year of eating delicious cakes!
Conducting fieldwork is itself motivating, as observing plovers in the field is always amazing. Fieldwork in Cabo Verde introduced a social element, leading to the formation of lasting friendships. Finishing work watching the sunset with a caipirinha in the beach with good friends always added the extra push you needed to motivate and energize yourself!
List of Publications Produced While in Tamás Székely Lab
Székely, T., Carmona‐Isunza, M. C., Engel, N., Halimubieke, N., Jones, W., Kubelka, V., Rice, R., Tanner, C. E., Tóth, Z, Valdebenito, J. O., Wanders, K. & McDonald, G. C. (2023). The causes and implications of sex role diversity in shorebird breeding systems. Ibis. DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13277 📄
Halimubieke, N., Kupán, K., Valdebenito, J. O., Kubelka, V., Carmona-Isunza, M. C., Burgas, D., Catlin, D., St Clair, J. J. H., Cohen, J., Figuerola, J., Yasué, M., Johnson, M., Mencarelli, M., Cruz-López, M., Stantial, M., Weston, M. A. Lloyd, P., Que, P., Montalvo, T., Bansal, U., McDonald, G. C., Liu, Y., Kosztolányi, A., & Székely, T. (2020). Successful breeding predicts divorce in plovers. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 15576. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-72521-6 📄
Ancona, S., Liker, A., Carmona-Isunza, M. C., & Székely, T. (2020). Sex differences in age-to-maturation relate to sexual selection and adult sex ratios in birds. Evolution Letters, 4(1), 44-53. DOI: 10.1002/evl3.156 📄
Eberhart-Phillips, L. J., Küpper, C., Carmona-Isunza, M. C., Vincze, O., Zefania, S., Cruz-López, M., Kosztolányi, A., Miller, T. E. X., Barta, Z., Cuthil, I. C., Burke, T., Székely, T., Hoffman, J. I. & Krüger, O. (2018). Demographic causes of adult sex ratio variation and their consequences for parental cooperation. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1651. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03833-5
Martínez-De La Puente, J., Eberhart-Phillips, L. J., Carmona-Isunza, M., C., Zefania, S., Navarro, M. J., Kruger, O., Hoffman, J. I., Székely, T. & Figuerola, J. (2017). Extremely low Plasmodium prevalence in wild plovers and coursers from Cape Verde and Madagascar. Malaria Journal, 16, 1-5. DOI: 10.1186/s12936-017-1892-y 📄
Maher, K. H., Eberhart‐Phillips, L. J., Kosztolányi, A., Dos Remedios, N., Carmona‐Isunza, M. C., Cruz‐López, M., Zefania, S., St Clair, J. J. H., Alrashidi, M., Weston, M. A., Serrano-Meneses, M. A., Krüger, O., Hoffman, J. I., Székely, T., Burke, T. & Küpper, C. (2017). High fidelity: extra‐pair fertilisations in eight Charadrius plover species are not associated with parental relatedness or social mating system. Journal of Avian Biology, 48(7), 910-920. DOI: 10.1111/jav.01263 📄
Carmona-Isunza, M. C., Ancona, S., Székely, T., Ramallo-González, A. P., Cruz-López, M., Serrano-Meneses, M. A., & Küpper, C. (2017). Adult sex ratio and operational sex ratio exhibit different temporal dynamics in the wild. Behavioral Ecology, 28(2), 523-532. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw183 📄
Almalkl, M., Kupán, K., Carmona-Isunza, M. C., López, P., Veiga, A., Kosztolányi, A., Székely, T. & Küpper, C. (2016). Morphological and genetic differentiation among Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus populations in Macaronesia. Ardeola, 64(1), 3-16. DOI: 10.13157/arla.64.1.2017.ra1 📄
Carmona-Isunza, M. C., Küpper, C., Serrano-Meneses, M. A., & Székely, T. (2015). Courtship behavior differs between monogamous and polygamous plovers. Behavioral ecology and sociobiology, 69, 2035-2042. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-2014-x 📄
Carmona-Isunza, M. C., Tavares, A., Koenen, F., Innes, E. & Székely, T. (2014). Monitoring Kentish plover populations in Maio, Cape Verde Islands. A Cagarra, 5, 2-4. 📄