My Research
Current project: Impact of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on diversification dynamics in Paederinae rove beetles
The main goal of the project is to investigate the evolutionary response of predatory beetles from the subfamily Paederinae to Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. I intend to achieve this by applying a set of innovative methods of machine learning species identification, high-throughput sequencing, and statistical phylogenetics. Reciprocally, this will convert this mega-diverse insect subfamily to a ‘model group’ with a well-known phylogeny and better-understood classification. This project has received funding from the National Science Centre (project no 2019/35/B/NZ8/03431) and is conducted in the Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland.
Past project: Dating fossils with molecules – innovative approach to determine the age of Baltic amber
cordis.europa.eu/project/id/797823/reporting
In my previous work, I was using statistical phylogenetic methods to date one of the most important fossil assemblages: the North European Baltic amber. Although it is the richest source of fossils ever, science has consistently failed to define its geological age. The core goal of my project was to apply an innovative approach to estimate more precise dates for this very important fossil deposit by using DNA, morphology of extinct and extant species, and Bayesian phylogenetics. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 797823.
Previous postdoctoral project
The aim of my postdoc project was building a total-evidence phylogeny of very neglected rove beetle group, the subfamily Paederinae. Almost nothing has been known about their internal and sister-group relationships. My results revealed several lineages that do not exactly match traditional taxonomy of the group and bring us closer to the natural classification (manuscript in prep.). In addition to the main project, I investigate the recently disputed sister group relationships between Paederinae and Staphylininae. This resulted in the first comprehensive molecular-based attempt to resolve this issue and confirmed their sister group relationship. I also sought to answer the question of Staphylininae monophyly itself and my research revealed that some of the tribes should actually be classified in separate subfamilies (Żyła & Solodovnikov, 2019, in revision).
Rove beetle fossils
A truly comprehensive systematic approach should not focus only on the recent taxa, but must also consider the past diversity of a group. My PhD research provided extensive training in paleontological methods and I have expanded my research to include the rove beetle fossil record.
