Meet the Scientist

Name: Alexey Solodovnikov
Position/Title: Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Department: Zoology

1. What do you study related to biodiversity (what are your research questions, what organisms do you work on)?
	I study systematics of the mega-diverse family of insects, the rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) (more than 40 000 described species worldwide). These are mostly small beetles, which rarely attract attention of non-specialists. But Staphylinidae is a very abundant and ecologically important group of invertebrates occurring in most natural habitats, especially in those on soil. The diversity and evolution of this family is currently poorly understood, and determination of any given species of the rove beetle outside Central Europe is impossible without special taxonomic effort. Therefore, the long-term task of my work as a systematist of this family is to make this big group of terrestrial organisms understandable and manageable for a variety of further studies and purposes. In the past I was focused on the taxonomy and faunal surveys of Staphylinidae of the Palaearctic region. Now my focus is shifting to the same studies in the south temperate areas of the world. I am developing the phylogenetic system of one group within Staphylinidae (subtribe Quediina and allied), worldwide. I am learning to be able to conduct efficient systematic work of a broader scope in Staphylinidae in the future.
2. How do you study biodiversity (for example, what technological tools and methodologies do you use in your research)?
	At the moment consistent and evolutionary assessment of the morphological diversity of Staphylinidae, and a phylogenetic system derived from that knowledge, are the most needed issues for the further understanding of all other aspects of the biodiversity of this group. Thus, most of my time is now devoted to the work with morphological characters of Staphylinidae, their phylogenetic assessment and developing identification tools for the family. Critical synthesis of this sort of data widely scattered in literature on the subject is also an urgent task. Therefore, in my every day work I visually inspect staphylinid specimens by means of variety of microscopes (including SEM). I make special preparations for morphological study of specimens. I actively use library resources for search and inspection of literature. My work is impossible without every day use of computer for variety of purposes, including work with special phylogenetic software. Hand illustrating and digital photography are used as illustrating tools. Collecting of specimens in nature by means of simple trapping techniques brings many new specimens for examination. Modern evolutionary theory and theory of phylogenetic systematics provides background methodological tools for my descriptive and analytical work.
3. Where do you study biodiversity?
	My study of biodiversity of Staphylinidae is based in two major “realms”: 1) in the museum collections, and 2) in nature. Major insect collections of the world harbor specimens of Staphylinidae collected through many decades throughout the world. Many of those specimens belong to species, which, very likely, are extinct in nature but still undescribed! Collections of Staphylinidae of the world are dramatically under-curated and under-studied. Study and better organization of the museum collections of Staphylinidae is one of my first priorities. To understand biodiversity of Staphylinidae outside Europe and North America, collecting remains to be done. Therefore, periodically I participate in the collecting trips, which are now mostly to the south temperate areas of the world (south of South America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand). Important field observations are accumulating during the fieldwork, along with the specimens themselves.
4. How might your research have implications for biological conservation?
	At the moment Staphylinidae is not a target group for biological conservation because they reproduce highly efficiently as with other invertebrates. Targeted protection of particular staphylinid taxa is senseless and practically impossible. But, as with other invertebrates, rove beetles are highly dependent on their microhabitats and are thus very vulnerable to destruction of (or even minor changes in) their native habitats and ecosystem. Rove beetles can be rather easily collected by hand and especially by means of simple, standardized and quantifiable techniques (sifting leaf litter, carrion traps, flight intercept traps etc.). Therefore particular species of Staphylinidae can serve as efficient indicators of the “health” of a given ecosystem and thus can be a handy tool helping to develop cost efficient conservation plans for particular areas. To be such a tool, rove beetles must be easily identifiable which is not yet the case. My projects therefore, directly and indirectly, work towards development of identification facilities for Staphylinidae.
5. How did you become interested in science? What made you want to be a scientist, and how did you get to The Field Museum?
	I became interested in the natural world as a teenager. A boyhood passion for fishing and hiking outdoors transformed into a more focused interest in biology. I began reading popular biological books and learned about collecting insects. Then I started collecting beetles in some wilderness around my home city (Krasnodar, Russia). My parents, not being biologists at all, willingly supported this “strange” interest, and were quite encouraging. For instance, it was my mother who first brought me to Moscow Zoological Museum, the first big natural history museum I saw. Starting with the display of beetles in that museum, I think, I first dreamed about working in a similar institution. I started to work seriously on the systematics of Staphylinidae from graduate school. I was aware of the Field Museum of Natural History as one of the most important collection and knowledge resources on this insect group. Also, some general papers of the Field Museum curators, Drs. Alfred Newton and Margaret Thayer, were on my desk long before I met these colleagues in person. I had some correspondence with Drs. A. Newton and M. Thayer starting from 1998. Later, in 2000 and 2001, I twice visited the Field Museum from St. Petersburg, Russia (made possible thanks to visiting scholarships from the Field Museum). These scholar visits became a true milestone in my career since they eventually led to my involvement in the PEET grant of M. Thayer, current postdoctoral position at the Field Museum, on going co-work with Drs. Thayer and Newton and training obtained from them.
6. Describe important collaborations for your scientific endeavors (describe your work with other researchers, organizations, or scientific groups, local or indigenous peoples, etc.)
	By its nature good systematics (and especially of such large group as Staphylinidae) is a highly social and international endeavor. It requires constant exchange of specimens, information, proof reading of colleagues’ manuscripts, meetings and similar joint activities. There are more than 30 active staphylinid researchers now in the world (mostly in USA and countries of Central Europe). I know most of them personally, and am constantly in touch via e-mail on a variety of professional issues. I have co-authored a few papers with colleagues from various countries. I visited several world Staphylinid collections to study specimens for my research (including fruitful personal interactions with the respective curators). These human interactions constitute a very important component of staying in touch with the current research community on Staphylinidae, getting new experience, criticism or inspiration. The PEET project “Monography, phylogeny, and historical biogeography of austral Staphylinidae (Coleoptera)“, on which I am working now under the supervision of Drs. M. Thayer (PI) and A. Newton (co-PI) and in collaboration with the graduate student D. Clarke, is a team effort. A special thing about this project for me is the possibility to learn many things from my experienced advisors. Another important thing for me are interactions with Russian colleagues and institutions in St. Petersburg where I grew up as an entomologist. In general I have a special interest in any developments in systematic, entomological and biodiversity research in that country. On all foreign collecting trips, my colleagues and I, contact many people, from nature conservation authorities and institutional colleagues to park rangers and local citizens who all are mostly quite cooperative.

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