Karim Vahed

FRES Fres ( el, Φρες) is a village and former municipality in the Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Apokoronas, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an ...

is a British

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. He is a professor of entomology and England manager at invertebrate conservation charity

Buglife Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust (usually referred to simply as Buglife) is a UK-based nature conservation charity. Structure Buglife's head office is in Peterborough, England; with additional offices in Scotland, Wales, Norther ...

, and is an expert in

crickets Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...

and bushcrickets (katydids).

Education and career

Vahed has been fascinated by insects since childhood. He studied

biological sciences Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

and did a PhD at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

on the function and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of nuptial feeding in bushcrickets, focusing on the role of the

spermatophylax A spermatophylax is a gelatinous bolus which some male insects eject during copulation with females through their aedeagi together with spermatophores, and which functions as a nutritive supplement for the female. See also *Nuptial gift A nupt ...

. In 1993 he joined the University of Derby, eventually becoming Professor of Entomology. and Programme Leader for the masters programme in conservation biology. In 2022 he moved to Buglife to become England Manager.

Research

Vahed's research looks in particular at the sexual behaviour of the

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...

order of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, the crickets and bush crickets and related groups. He discovered a group of bushcricket species ''Anonconotus sp.'' that are able to mate many times without need to recover. He has studied the behaviour of giving nuptial gifts in insects. His team also discovered a cricket species ''

Platycleis affinis ''Platycleis affinis'' is an insect species belonging to the subfamily Tettigoniinae of family Tettigoniidae Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America), or bush crickets. They have previous ...

'' in which the

testes A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoster ...

accounted for 14% of the insect's body mass, the largest percentage of any animal at the time of the study. The large testes enable the insect to mate more frequently. Vahed is involved in conservation of rare orthopterans and monitors the rare scaly cricket (''Pseudomogoplistes vicentae)'' on the UK mainland as well as on the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

including a potential new colony of the species on

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

. On Guernsey he performs surveys of the cricket with volunteers from La Societe Guernesiaise. He has campaigned against making the Guernsey site a waste dump. He also studies the mating behaviour of the scaly cricket. In 2014 Vahed was interviewed on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

television documentary ''Spider House'' by Tim Cockerill, in 2019 he appeared on ''The British Garden: Life And Death On Your Lawn'' with

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series ''The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 t ...

Awards and honours

Vahed is a Fellow of the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of London ...

, of the

Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

, of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

and is a Senior Fellow of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

Personal life

Vahed and his partner, Kate Bellis, a photographer, have one son.

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

University of Derby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahed, Karim Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British entomologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society 20th-century British scientists 21st-century British scientists Alumni of the University of Exeter Alumni of the University of Nottingham