The doctoral dissertation in the field of Environmental Science will be examined at the Faculty of Science and Forestry on the Kuopio Campus and streamed live.
What is the topic of your doctoral research?
The common wasps is an ecological important species with specific functions in regulation of agricultural insect pests and pollination. Therefore factors that can drive change in the properties of the wasps and impact the ability to function appropriately within the ecosystem need to be studied.
What are the key findings or observations of your doctoral research?
The study identified the importance of microclimatic factors in growth and expression of melanin pigmentation in the common wasps V. vulgaris.
The study associated urban heat island (UHI) effect with selection of phenotypic morphs in the common wasps using expression of melanin and yellow pigmentation.
The relative proportion of black and yellow pigmentation on the cuticle is expected to improve thermoregulation in wasps in response to climate change depending on the alternating expression of the pigments.
The study identified the use of melanin pigments in immune response through encapsulation of heavy metals within the midgut of the wasps and modulation of expression of black pigmentation on the cuticle.
How can the results of your doctoral research be utilised in practice?
The result can help in biomonitoring and assessment of impact of environmental pollution, alteration of natural environment and climate change. As the population of the world increases and with the projected increase in global temperature due to climate change; environmental pollution, urban development and destruction of natural ecosystems is expected to increase. Therefore, variation in phenotypic properties of insects (one of the most successful group of animals) can provided early signals for environmental management purpose.
Please describe the process of your doctoral research.
V. vulgaris samples were collected across different climatic zones in Finland using beer traps and sweep net methods. Samples were processed by visual observation, photo image analysis, electron microscopy and mass spectrometry.
The doctoral dissertation of Badejo Oluwatobi Abayomi, MSc, entitled Climatic and environmental effects on phenotypic variation in common wasp Vespula Vulgaris, will be examined at the Faculty of Science and Forestry on the Kuopio Campus, Canthia, CA101, and online, on 8 December at 12 noon. The opponent will be Professor Toomas Tammaru, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Estonia, and the custos will be Research Director Arto Koistinen, University of Eastern Finland. Language of the public defence is English.
For further information, please contact:
Badejo Oluwatobi Abayomi, oluwatobi.badejo@uef.fi
