Search for a dissertation topic in entomology, ecology and geography

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25.01.2012 23:25, Wild Yuri

Nasecht studies of preimaginal forms-again, and molecular methods?
Because studying caterpillars.. it is very difficult to find a caterpillar here in the oychny area, but there, with the population density as low as possible, no seasons will be enough!

Caterpillars are made from eggs. Females lay their eggs in containers on forage plants. These are determined by observing fluttering females. It's not that complicated. At one time I was fond of growing butterflies, and I got hundreds of different caterpillars. Then my life circumstances changed, and unfortunately I had to stop" butterfly farming". I want to try again this year. "Get" caterpillars of little-studied Far Eastern species. For science.

I wanted to find some climate archives, but I didn't find any! I had to look at the Magadan archive.
Here is a typical summer
Two days with Tmax above +20C (+22) and Cumin about +15C.
Of course, I was joking when I wrote about one day of summer when butterflies fly, and I was wrong. Summer lasts for two days.

Yes, the summer on the coast of Okhotsk is not super, however, there are butterflies, and there are many species. And in the continental regions of the Magadan region there is "Central Asia" - heat under 30, dry... From late June to mid-July. I overheated there more than once, "fell" into the rivers... I was in the Magadan region 10 times. The climate has been studied.

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25.01.2012 23:36, Hierophis

I know about the heat in those areas from the same archives

In principle logically, if it is clear under the anticyclone, but the heat comes from the south or somewhere else, then by ida it can be more than 30. But here's what's dry.. I always thought it was wet, and there's a bunch of midges that just eat alive

If this is the case, then this also makes adjustments to the field season - with eyes full of midges or through a bush, you will not be able to catch much of it!

And as for the breeding of butterflies-it's also not so simple, of course, I also bred several species from eggs, but from eggs found by tracking in nature, but so that they mated or laid in the cage.. I've only ever done this with an unpaired silkworm

. Butterflies, it seems to me, are still more scrupulous about this matter, and they won't mate and lay eggs anywhere

That is, in the container to provoke the laying of eggs, or mating.. I don't know..
After covering with a net, it seems to me that the poor butterfly, already oppressed by an innate fear of stain, will put everything that is in place, and lose the craving for life))

26.01.2012 4:47, Yakovlev

The point is not whether there are few or many species. And the fact that Koryakia remains the only major region of the Russian Federation, about which nothing is clear. There is not even a preliminary short list of species. I think that this land will produce 400-500 species of macrolepidoptera (50 diurnal, 250 scoops, 70-100 moths, 10 arctids, and 10 others). And you need to understand that it will be 90-100% new faunalism. There will be a couple of new species of scoops, a couple of moths, and a couple of diurnal subspecies. After all, scientific novelty is an important thing in research. And finding a new view for a certain area (knowing that it is everywhere around) is nonsense. And here we are dealing with a truly unknown land.
When our team and Seryozha Churkin started exploring the Mongolian and Gobi Altai, it also seemed like a sad land. The results are known - the mass of faunal finds - the fauna of diurnal, hawk moth, cossids, and arctids in those areas has been increased by 35%. And the idea of Western Mongolia as an extremely impoverished region. Sayan or Altai collapsed-a completely different fauna-high endemism, a lot of Dzungarian species... And Koryakia will give its own. If anyone has the desire and means - take my advice. Defining the material - I can take it upon myself to contact my colleagues - because specialists will be happy to help you determine and publish it.

26.01.2012 16:58, Penzyak

Theme for disera say, I remembered an old bearded joke:

A forest, a clearing, a hare sitting on a stump, writing something. A fox runs past.
"Gotcha, scythe!... And what are you writing, hare?
- Yes, a dissertation.
"About what?"
"About how hares eat foxes!"
"Are you crazy?" Where have you ever seen such a thing?
"Well, come on, I'll show you something...
after a while, the hare is sitting down again and writing something.
"The wolf is running.
"The hare! And what are you writing, oblique?
- Dissertation on how hares eat wolves!
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Come with me, I'll show you something..."
Next picture: a hare writes, a bear approaches.
"What are you writing?"
- Dissertation on how hares eat bears!
"What!?"? Yes, where is it seen?
"Come on, I'll show you something...
the last painting.": a nearby cave, a mountain of fox, wolf, and bear bones.
In the middle, gnawing on a bone, lies a huge lion.
Moral: it's not the topic of your dissertation that matters - it's who your supervisor is!

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26.01.2012 18:32, Hierophis

Yakovlev, sad earth - I did not give this characteristic for the small number of expected new finds of butterflies, I could not assume anything about this, since I do not know what is typical of this territory in general.
This is the general impression, although the fact that there is summer two days a year-this will already be sad.

And about the topic - I may not quite understand what, but even if you find a lot of money, you probably need a lot by the way, go to this Koryak, go around, or better-fly around it all and catch everything that moves, then give it all to other people for definition, then all this is like a topic for a dissertation..
I don't know, in my understanding, the dissertation should contain not just data on how many times the applicant was in Koryakia and how many new species he caught there, but some kind of generalizing idea of all this.

Well, in general, now, and always in science, the most important thing is the personal factor - the necessary acquaintances will help you defend any dissertation.
The main thing, as I have already written, is that it is less seen and heard by some guys from this forum, like Yakovlev, for example

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26.01.2012 21:06, Лавр Большаков

In the early 90's, almost all of Russia was a "white spot" in terms of butterflies-the species were generally known, and the details of their distribution are very approximate. And there were many dissertations on closing these "white spots"? About five pieces, and the rest was raised mainly by enthusiasts. Now, let's say there is only one Koryak left - well, collect the nth number of butterflies, write a list - and what does this mean for a dissertation? It is enough to look at the adjacent, though not very well, but better studied areas - and you can calculate with a high degree of probability that in Koryakia. It is clear that new species can be expected from there with the same probability as from any area of the NE.Siberia. it is simply indecent to describe new subspecies from each region. Subspecies have already been described from Yakutia and the Magadan region , and they are often synonymized. So our real, not shameful dissertation on this region is not just a list of species, but long-term research of different areas and analysis of probably this entire corner of Central Asia.

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27.01.2012 1:46, Coelioxys

Colleagues! Let's not extol the importance of dissertations. At its core, a dissertation is a qualifying work. This is not so much a scientific study as a "pass" to the professional community. In other words, you need to do some work and arrange it according to all the rules provided for. This is a slightly more complex" version " of a student's thesis. The entire defense procedure (from choosing a topic and approving a supervisor, to voting at the council and awarding a diploma) is nothing more than collecting guarantees and recommendations from professionals. In any official review, the main point is the last paragraph with the verdict-matches-does not match. That's all. And it is not necessary to draw any conclusions from the defense of the dissertation and the academic degree itself about the viability of a person as a scientist, and even more so about his superiority over unshadowed colleagues. It is not for nothing that the term of full-time postgraduate study is officially approved-3 years, i.e. it is stated in advance that this period is sufficient for the preparation and defense of any work in any specialty. All those who did not meet this deadline (for various reasons) are losers who need to be deducted for poor academic performance. people (job seekers and managers) and the conditions in which work is done are always different, and the work itself is also different (sometimes sooooo). But for protection, it is enough to meet the minimum required requirements. It's like qualifying competitions in sports. Standard for reaching the final stage of the competition in the long jump, for example, 6 meters. And all those who jumped past 6.00 go on, it doesn't matter at 6.01 or 8.50, the final will start all over again.
Therefore, there are good works, and there are frankly weak ones, but from the point of view of the law, the degree for them is given the same. Another thing is the moral component, the authority of colleagues, reviews of specialists, etc.
Further relevance in science is reflected in the publications of any scientist, they are much more accessible to the public and more topical than any dissertations (which officially have the status of manuscripts). Publications are the measure of everything, and they are the basis for forming an opinion about the viability of their author.
Therefore, to complete the dissertation, it is not necessary to go to Koryakia for three months and feed mosquitoes and bears there (which are much more numerous there than butterflies). Any large research institute has a lot of raw material for different groups (I don't know about butterflies, but there are enough quails and flies) from the European part of Russia. For example, only 4 subjects of the European part of Russia are known for bees (and even then incomplete), not to mention parasitic hymns. There are a lot of areas in which you can write a dissertation with proper preparation, desire and certain sredtv (where now without them). The main task is to find a supervisor and have working conditions. In a year, of course, even the work that meets the minimum requirements is unlikely to be prepared (especially almost from scratch), but with a successful combination of circumstances, 3 years is quite a real time.

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27.01.2012 11:34, Лавр Большаков

Coelioxys
Participant
Vladivostok

today, 02: 46 URL #60

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Colleagues! Let's not extol the importance of dissertations. At its core, a dissertation is a qualifying work. This is not so much a scientific study as a "pass" to the professional community. In other words, you need to do some work and arrange it according to all the rules provided for. This is a slightly more complex" version " of a student's thesis. The entire defense procedure (from choosing a topic and approving a supervisor, to voting at the council and awarding a diploma) is nothing more than collecting guarantees and recommendations from professionals. In any official review, the main point is the last paragraph with the verdict-matches-does not match. That's all. And it is not necessary to draw any conclusions from the defense of the dissertation and the academic degree itself about the viability of a person as a scientist, and even more so about his superiority over unshadowed colleagues. It is not for nothing that the term of full-time postgraduate study is officially approved-3 years, i.e. it is stated in advance that this period is sufficient for the preparation and defense of any work in any specialty. All those who did not meet this deadline (for various reasons) are losers who need to be deducted for poor academic performance. people (job seekers and managers) and the conditions in which work is done are always different, and the work itself is also different (sometimes sooooo). But for protection, it is enough to meet the minimum required requirements. It's like qualifying competitions in sports. Standard for reaching the final stage of the competition in the long jump, for example, 6 meters. And all those who jumped past 6.00 go on, it doesn't matter at 6.01 or 8.50, the final will start all over again.
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In principle, this is true. It is impossible only to agree with the following:
- that this is a "pass" to the professional community. If the dissertation is purely spar-logographic or plagiarized "qualification" in nature, then after 10 minutes of professional communication, the failure of the newly minted "scientist" will become obvious. And then no "pass" will help. Although we have an extensive community of simulators, you can probably hang around there for a long time and successfully.
- that "The entire defense procedure (from choosing a topic and approving a supervisor, to voting at the council and awarding a diploma) is nothing more than collecting guarantees and recommendations from professionals." In fact, there are few real professionals in provincial and other dissent councils, especially specialists in certain insects. On the other hand, there are a lot of so - called "ecologists" - specialists "in everything and nothing" - there (and around, on the hook as of. oponents, etc.). For example, at Kaluga Pedagogical University, interns in entomology (formally in the specialty "Ecology") are accepted by physicists (including an atomic scientist), chemists, doctors, agricultural workers, 1 botanist and 2 zoologists related to the ecology of vertebrates. And only these 2 zoologists, although not entomologists, invariably smash failed applicants-pseudo-entomologists on the defense and throw them black balls. But there are only 2 of them (sometimes even someone 1 supports them) - a significant minority - the rest vote as "ordered". I do not know of any truly self-respecting dissertation council in Russia that takes into account the opinions of experts, except for Zinovsky. All or almost all the others were more or less prostituted! As for reviews, the co-creator-charlatans always has the majority of positive reviews, but not from experts on the protected topic (they just have negative reviews, more often they are afraid of any at all), but from imitators and charlatans like him.

27.01.2012 11:34, Лавр Большаков

27.01.2012 12:32, Wild Yuri

In the early 90's, almost all of Russia was a "white spot" in terms of butterflies-the species were generally known, and the details of their distribution are very approximate. And there were many dissertations on closing these "white spots"? About five pieces, and the rest was raised mainly by enthusiasts. Now, let's say there is only one Koryak left - well, collect the nth number of butterflies, write a list - and what does this mean for a dissertation? It is enough to look at the adjacent, though not very well, but better studied areas - and you can calculate with a high degree of probability that in Koryakia. It is clear that new species can be expected from there with the same probability as from any area of the NE.Siberia.

The probability is high. In Eastern Siberia, they found arcticus, eneis ammosovi, and yakuticola... A number of subspecies, if carefully studied, have every chance of becoming species. There are still undiscovered twin species, where there may be clear differences in preimaginal stages (egg sculpture, caterpillar color, pupal shape...). There are still a lot of clear subspecies to describe. And in Koryakia, no one caught it at all. You just have to go there. What can we say about zoogeography if we allow the existence of white spots?

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27.01.2012 17:05, Лавр Большаков

c clegg
Member

today, 14: 13 URL #69

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What are you talking about, Koryakia, Koryakia...
You might think that everything is done in the European part. At least for the bulavousys.
They survived. Yolks and checkers have not yet been explained.
Everyone knows everything, but you can't find anything.
Voronezh region, Tambov region.
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With these two, it is true, and even worse-a strong imitation and falsification "noise". There are almost blank spots (I write from memory) - Belgorod, Oryol, Bryansk, Smolensk, for a number of areas either works from 40 years ago, or fragments, for many just bare lists without the details necessary for analysis.

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27.01.2012 17:34, Penzyak

I completely agree with Lavr. Before KOLA pancake, we will adhere to the Soviet directive on the "development of distant lands", when we went to the "devil in the teeth "where" Makar did not drive calves" in search of the new and unknown. The main thing is to find something "new" and describe it, leaving a mark in science... And what is happening literally under your nose in the European part of Russia and walking along the same bulavousym (which are considered studied "along and across" and for the study of which someone on the forum offered to almost beat in the eye) in half of the regions, probably, complete darkness and hopeless ignorance... Of course, there are no new species here ,but the findings can also be very significant and interesting. Yes, take those maps in the form of an album A-4 that came out in 1970-80. how many there are literally white spots... awful.
Yes, what a pancake to go far for examples, so Sergey Shibaev took up Penza bees (he has been studying for five years), and of course we help him in collecting material - how many new ones were found and previously considered VERY SOUTHERN. Of course, he titanically translates and adapts imported qualifiers to us, since it is almost impossible to determine ANYTHING exactly from our "green" ones... And there are not enough specialists left in Russia...
For example, now he is preparing a large article on the family megahil of the Penza region, a huge amount of material has been collected and identified, about 70 species have been identified (for the ENTIRE VOLGA region, no more than 40 species are known from all studies!) and then he hesitates to publish material - there may be about 10 more types!?
And so, where you don't dig - more or less well-known butterflies and beetles, the rest is unattractive for collectors...

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27.01.2012 18:04, Yakovlev

What are you talking about, Koryakia, Koryakia...
You might think that everything is done in the European part. At least for the bulavousys.
They survived. Yolks and checkers have not yet been explained.
Everyone knows everything, but you can't find anything.
Voronezh region, Tambov region.
Yes, the same Saratov. Until now, they refer to Kumakov in 1979 (Anikin's nonsense companions in 1993 do not count).

It's not you who messed up, but I messed up, because the dissertation should have a scientific novelty. And in the dissertation on Koryakia-the scientific novelty will be enormous. And "Anikin's nonsense companions" should not be mentioned if you have not done such work. Any fairly large work can be criticized especially after 15-20 years, but do not call it nonsense.

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28.01.2012 2:39, Coelioxys

An adequate supervisor always approves the topic of work "with a reserve" for the graduate student (with the applicant in a different way, since in most cases this is already a person with a certain baggage). The official term of postgraduate study is strictly limited to 3 years, and, for example, in our institute, only those who have defended their degree on time have a chance to get a permanent job. Therefore, a topic is given in which the "scientific novelty" lies on the surface. If you take your favorite butterflies, it is clear that in Koryakia you will catch more "novelty" than in the same period in Penza. The same situation applies to the group of insects under study. For the dissertation, they give a group that can be mastered in 3 years within the framework of the research topic.
Real research work begins after the defense of your dissertation, when you can choose a completely different group, a different region, instead of faunistics, do biology or molecular genetics, etc. There are plenty of examples of this.
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An academic degree is not a sentence or a ticket to science. This is just another step that allows you to climb a little higher in organizations where such "ladders" are provided. Therefore, it is stupid to condemn a person who, after defending a dissertation on beetles, went to sell chebureks. This is his right. Just now it has become fashionable to have a degree, previously there was a higher education, then 2 higher ones, now it is fashionable to have a degree. In the highest echelons of power, it is generally fashionable to be an academician or at least a member of the mayor.
Taking all the words regarding the professional incompetence of many DS, I treat this philosophically, let them engage in this mouse fuss. No one reads their work anyway, no one cites them or takes them seriously, and the fact that they also have a degree doesn't bother me at all. Time will put everything in its place. You don't need a degree to write good papers and publish them in good journals.
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The common problem with all regional faunalists is that they chase numbers, dreaming of records. "You give 10 (100-1000) new species for the region per season!"; "We need to find 5 more species and there will be 100!", etc. Often, such a race becomes an end in itself, and the adequacy of the definition of the material goes by the wayside.
I hope that S. Shibaev will give his work on megahilids to a more or less decent magazine, where it can be shown to people who are familiar with e-mails, so that it doesn't turn out like in a CAB.

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