Karim Vahed
British entomologist
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Karim Vahed FRES is a British entomologist. He is a professor of entomology and England manager at invertebrate conservation charity Buglife, and is an expert in crickets and bushcrickets (katydids).[1][2]
Karim Vahed | |
|---|---|
| Education | University of Exeter University of Nottingham |
| Partner | Kate Bellis |
| Children | 1 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Entomology Orthopterology |
| Workplaces | University of Derby Buglife |
| Thesis | The evolution and function of the spermatophylax in bushcrickets (Orthoptera:Tettigoniidae). (1994) |
Academic advisors | Francis Gilbert |
| Website | https://www.derby.ac.uk/staff/karim-vahed/ |
Education and career
Vahed has been fascinated by insects since childhood.[3] He studied biological sciences at the University of Exeter[3] and did a PhD at the University of Nottingham on the function and evolution of nuptial feeding in bushcrickets, focusing on the role of the spermatophylax.[4] In 1993 he joined the University of Derby, eventually becoming Professor of Entomology.[3] and Programme Leader for the masters programme in conservation biology.[5] In 2022 he moved to Buglife to become England Manager.[6]
Research
Vahed's research looks in particular at the sexual behaviour of the Orthoptera order of insects, the crickets and bush crickets and related groups.[1]
He discovered a group of bushcricket species Anonconotus sp. that are able to mate many times without need to recover.[7] He has studied the behaviour of giving nuptial gifts in insects.[8] His team also discovered a cricket species Platycleis affinis in which the testes accounted for 14% of the insect's body mass, the largest percentage of any animal at the time of the study.[9][10] The large testes enable the insect to mate more frequently.[9]
Vahed is involved in conservation of rare orthopterans and monitors the rare scaly cricket (Pseudomogoplistes vicentae) on the UK mainland[5] as well as on the Channel Islands including a potential new colony of the species on Guernsey.[11][12] On Guernsey he performs surveys of the cricket with volunteers from La Societe Guernesiaise.[12] He has campaigned against making the Guernsey site a waste dump.[13] He also studies the mating behaviour of the scaly cricket.[5]
In 2014 Vahed was interviewed on BBC Four television documentary Spider House by Tim Cockerill,[14] in 2019 he appeared on The British Garden: Life And Death On Your Lawn with Chris Packham.[15]
Awards and honours
Vahed is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society,[16] of the Royal Society of Biology, of the Linnean Society and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.[1]
Personal life
Vahed and his partner, Kate Bellis, a photographer, have one son.[17]
Selected publications
- Vahed, Karim (1998). "The function of nuptial feeding in insects: a review of empirical studies". Biological Reviews. 73 (1): 43–78. doi:10.1017/S0006323197005112. ISSN 1469-185X.
- Vahed, Karim (2007). "All that Glisters is not Gold: Sensory Bias, Sexual Conflict and Nuptial Feeding in Insects and Spiders". Ethology. 113 (2): 105–127. Bibcode:2007Ethol.113..105V. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01312.x. ISSN 1439-0310.
- Vahed, Karim; Parker, Darren J. (2012). "The Evolution of Large Testes: Sperm Competition or Male Mating Rate?". Ethology. 118 (2): 107–117. Bibcode:2012Ethol.118..107V. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01991.x. ISSN 1439-0310.
- Lehmann, Gerlind U. C.; Gilbert, James DJ; Vahed, Karim; Lehmann, Arne W. (2017). "Male genital titillators and the intensity of post-copulatory sexual selection across bushcrickets". Behavioral Ecology. 28 (5): 1198–1205. doi:10.1093/beheco/arx094. ISSN 1045-2249.