Naerhulan Halimubieke
Current Focus
I am a post-doctoral research fellow affiliated with University College London, engaged in several primary research projects. These include investigating the behavioral ecology of forced marriage practices in Central Asia, a project funded by the ERC. Additionally, I am exploring the impact of adult sex ratio on human societies, supported by the Royal Society APEX award. Another research focus involves studying sex role evolution in global shorebird populations, with funding from ÉLVONAL Shorebird Science. Furthermore, I am conducting research on the breeding ecology, disease biology, and conservation of shorebird populations in both South Africa and the Tibetan Plateau, China. Lastly, I am delving into the effects of grazing livestock on grassland shorebirds, a project funded by the EU-LIFE Programme.
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Previous Research and Other Interests
I specialize in evolutionary behavioral ecology, demography, and life history, with a primary focus on empirical studies within both human and non-human populations. My research involves employing phylogenetic approaches to investigate the evolution of sex roles. Additionally, I explore the implications of sex roles in the context of disease biology. Another facet of my work is dedicated to the conservation biology of endangered species. Overall, my research interests span diverse aspects of evolutionary biology, ranging from the intricacies of behavior and demography to the broader implications for biodiversity conservation.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2016-2020: Full-time PhD, University of Bath, United Kingdom
2013-2016: Master in Animal Behavioural Ecology, Beijing Normal University, China
2009-2013: Undergraduate diploma in Wildlife Conservation and Natural Reserve Management, Northeast Forestry University, China
Appointments
2022-2024: Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University College London, United Kingdom
March 2022: Invited lecturer, University of Bath, United Kingdom
2021-2022: Full-time lecturer, University of Bath, United Kingdom
2020-2021: Part-time lecturer, University of Bath, United Kingdom
Publications
Zhou, W., Zhang, N., Huang, K., Lin, H., Tu, J., Zheng, C., Que, P., Chiang, C., Martinez, J., Halimubieke, N., Székely, T., Zhang, Z. & Liu, Y. (2024). Divergent selection in low recombination regions shapes the genomic islands in two incipient shorebird species. Molecular Biology and Evolution, msae006. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae006 📄
Ding, P., Song, Z., Liu, Y., Halimubieke, N., Székely, T., & Shi, L. (2023). Nesting Habitat Suitability of the Kentish Plover in the Arid Lands of Xinjiang, China. Animals, 13(21), 3369. DOI: 10.3390/ani13213369 📄
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 📄
Wei, C., Schweizer, M., Tomkovich, P. S., Arkhipov, V. Y., Romanov, M., Martinez, J., Lin, X., Halimubieke, N., Que, P., Mu, T., Huang, Q., Zhang., Z., Székely, T. & Liu, Y. (2022). Genome-wide data reveal paraphyly in the sand plover complex (Charadrius mongolus/leschenaultii). Ornithology, 139(2), ukab085. DOI: 10.1093/ornithology/ukab085 📄
Halimubieke, N., Pirrie, A., Székely, T., & Ashby, B. (2021). How do biases in sex ratio and disease characteristics affect the spread of sexually transmitted infections?. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 527, 110832. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110832 📄
Valdebenito, J. O., Halimubieke, N., Lendvai, Á. Z., Figuerola, J., Eichhorn, G., & Székely, T. (2021). Seasonal variation in sex-specific immunity in wild birds. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1349. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80030-9 📄
Valdebenito, J. O., Liker, A., Halimubieke, N., Figuerola, J., & Székely, T. (2020). Mortality cost of sex-specific parasitism in wild bird populations. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 20983. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77410-6 📄
Song, Z., Lin, X., Que, P., Halimubieke, N., Huang, Q., Zhang, Z., Székely, T., & Liu, Y. (2020). The allocation between egg size and clutch size depends on local nest survival rate in a mean of bet-hedging in a shorebird. Avian Research, 11(1), 1-10. DOI:10.1186/s40657-020-00225-6 📄
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 📄
Valdebenito, J. O., Martínez-De La Puente, J., Castro, M., Perez-Hurtado, A., Tejera, G., Székely, T., Halimubieke, N., Schroeder, J. & Figuerola, J. (2020). Association of insularity and body condition to cloacal bacteria prevalence in a small shorebird. Plos one, 15(8), e0237369. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237369 📄
Halimubieke, N., Valdebenito, J. O., Harding, P., Cruz‐López, M., Serrano‐Meneses, M. A., James, R., Kupán, K. & Székely, T. (2019). Mate fidelity in a polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus). Ecology and Evolution, 9(18), 10734-10745. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5591 📄