Lukáš Kubička

Main research interests

reptile life-history evolution, ontogeny and hormonal control of sexually dimorphic traits in squamate reptiles, temperature-induced phenotypic plasticity of reproduction strategies in ectotherms, ecological and evolutionary consequences of genotypic and temperature sex determination

• Google Scholar 
• ResearcherID

Teaching and academic activities

• Ecological and evolutionary endocrinology
  Course runs in Czech language and apprises participants with roles of different hormones in life processes and strategies of animals from the perspective of ecology (and also behavioural ecology and ecophysiology), evolutionary biology and physiology (including macrophysiology and conservation physiology). It is mainly focused on vertebrates, mechanisms involved in invertebrates are also mentioned in selected chapters.
• Ethological methods
  Practical course for interpreting and evaluating typical behavioural traits of various animal groups.
• Department coordinator for bachelor thesis defences
• Member of the Ethical Committee for Animal Welfare of the Faculty of Science, Charles University

Grant projects

• 2019–2021: Czech Science Foundation, standard project No. 19-19746S “Growth plasticity in lizards: consequences for sexual dimorphism and maternal effect in body size” (member of the research team)
• 2018: University Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics II (junior member of the research team)
• 2016–2018: Czech Science Foundation, standard project No. 16-24619S “Hormonal control of sexual dimorphism in squamate reptiles” (principal investigator)
• 2016–2018: Grant Agency of Charles University, project No. 906216 “Proximate control of sexual size dimorphism, behaviour and colour change in a chameleon” (guarantee of the project)
• 2015–2017: Grant Agency of Charles University, project No. 363715 “Proximate mechanisms of sexual size dimorphism in geckos” (guarantee of the project)
• 2015–2017: Grant Agency of Charles University, project No. 366415 “Evolutionary dynamics and hormonal control of sex recognition signals in geckos from family Eublepharidae” (co-investigator)
• 2013–2015: Czech Science Foundation, postdoc project No. 13-19767P “Hormonal control of growth and sexual size dimorphism in a model lizard” (principal investigator)
• 2012–2017: University Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (junior member of the research team)
• 2011: ThermAdapt research network program of the European Science Foundation, exchange project No. 3326 “Sexually dimorphic brain regions in geckos: linkage between incubation temperature, sex hormones and behaviour” (principal investigator)
• 2009–2013: Czech Science Foundation, standard project No. 206/09/0895 “Hormonal control of sexually dimorphic traits in eye-lid geckos (Squamata: Eublepharidae)” (member of the research team)

Publications

• Kratochvíl L., Kubička L., Vohralík M., Starostová Z. (2018) Variability in vertebral numbers does not contribute to sexual size dimorphism, interspecific variability, or phenotypic plasticity in body size in geckos (Squamata: Gekkota: Paroedura). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A Comparative Experimental Biology 329, 185-190. DOI: 10.1002/jez.2159
• Schořálková T., Kratochvíl L., Kubička L. (2018) Female sexual attractiveness and sex recognition in leopard gecko: Males are indiscriminate courters. Hormones and Behavior 99, 57-61. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.01.007 Schořálková T., Kratochvíl L., Kubička L. (2018) To fight or mate? Hormonal control of sex recognition, male sexual behaviour and aggression in the gecko lizard. Hormones and Behavior 97, 18-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.10.006
• Czarnoleski M., Labecka A. M., Starostová Z., Sikorska A., Bonda-Ostaszewska E., Woch K., Kubička L., Kratochvíl L., Kozlowski J. (2017): Not all cells are equal: temperature and sex effects on the size of different cell types in the Madagascar ground gecko Paroedura picta. Biology Open 6, 1149-1154. DOI: 10.1242/bio.025817
• Schořálková T., Kratochvíl L., Kubička L. (2017) Temporal organization: A novel mechanism of hormonal control of male-typical sexual behavior in vertebrates. Physiology and Behavior 170, 151-156. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.12.030
• Kubička L., Schořálková T., Červenka J., Kratochvíl L. (2017) Ovarian control of growth and sexual size dimorphism in a male-larger gecko. Journal of Experimental Biology 220, 787-795. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.146597
• Kubička L., Starostová Z., Kratochvíl L. (2015) Endogenous control of sexual size dimorphism: Gonadal androgens have neither direct nor indirect effect on male growth in a Madagascar ground gecko (Paroedura picta). General and Comparative Endocrinology 224, 273-277. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2015.09.028
• Golinski A., Kubička L., John-Alder H., Kratochvíl L. (2015) Androgenic control of male-typical behavior, morphology and sex recognition is independent of the mode of sex determination: A case study on Lichtenfelder's gecko (Eublepharidae: Goniurosaurus lichtenfelderi). Hormones and Behavior 72, 49-59. DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.04.021
• Golinski A., Kubička, L., John-Alder, H., Kratochvíl, L. (2014) Elevated testosterone is required for male copulatory behavior and aggression in Madagascar ground gecko (Paroedura picta). General and Comparative Endocrinology 205, 133-141. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2014.05.012
• Kubička L., Golinski A., John-Alder H., Kratochvíl L. (2013) Ontogeny of pronounced female-biased sexual size dimorphism in the Malaysian cat gecko (Aeluroscalabotes felinus: Squamata: Eublepharidae): A test of the role of testosterone in growth regulation. General and Comparative Endocrinology 188, 183-188. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2013.03.016
• Starostová Z., Kubička L., Golinski A., Kratochvíl L. (2013) Neither male gonadal androgens nor female reproductive cost drive development of sexual size dimorphism in lizards. Journal of Experimental Biology 216, 1872-1880. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.079442
• Weiser H., Starostová Z., Kubička L., Kratochvíl L. (2012) Overlap of female reproductive cycles explains shortened interclutch interval in a lizard with invariant clutch size (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Paroedura picta). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 85, 491-498. DOI: 10.1086/666906
• Kubička L., Starostová Z., Kratochvíl L. (2012) Temperature-dependent rate of clutch production in a tropical lizard (Paroedura picta: Gekkonidae): Intraspecific test of the Metabolic Theory of Ecology. Journal of Thermal Biology 37, 179-184. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2011.12.011
• Starostová Z., Angilletta M.J., Kubička L., Kratochvíl L. (2012) Thermal dependence of reproductive allocation in a tropical lizard. Journal of Thermal Biology 37, 159-163. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2011.12.009
• Starostová Z., Kubička L., Kratochvíl L. (2010) Macroevolutionary pattern of sexual size dimorphism in geckos corresponds to intraspecific temperature-induced variation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23, 670-677. DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01933.x
• Starostová Z., Kubička L., Konarzewski M., Kozłowski J., Kratochvíl L. (2009) Cell size but not genome size affects scaling of metabolic rate in eyelid geckos. American Naturalist 174, E100-E105. DOI: 10.1086/603610
• Kubička L., Kratochvíl L. (2009) First grow, then breed and finally get fat: hierarchical allocation to life-history traits in a lizard with invariant clutch size. Functional Ecology 23, 595-601. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01518.x
• Kratochvíl L., Kubička L., Landová E. (2008) Does the mechanism of sex determination constrain the potential for sex manipulation? A test in geckos with contrasting sex-determining systems. Naturwissenschaften 95, 209-215. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-007-0317-0
• Kratochvíl L., Kubička L. (2007) Why reduce clutch size to one or two eggs? Reproductive allometries reveal different evolutionary causes of invariant clutch size in lizards. Functional Ecology 21, 171-177. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01202.x
• Kratochvíl L., Kubička L., Landová E. (2006) Yolk hormone levels in the synchronously developing eggs of Paroedura picta, the gecko with genetic sex determination. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84, 1683-1687. DOI: 10.1139/z06-152