My Blog
Successfully completed my PhD!
Thought I will share a snapshot of the news from our school's newsletter!!
Check out this video where I talk about my research for the 'PhD Phursdays' playlist in the Facebook page of Biology - Massey University Albany
First paper of my PhD got published!!!
Collecting ladybirds
Usually it is easy to spot ladybirds and collect them, but it is not always the case, there are some species that cannot be spotted that easily or some species that move fast or fly. So when collecting ladybirds we use beat-sheets and a stick. The image here shows how I use the beat-sheet, holding it under the branch of a tree while hitting the branch with the stick. Insects residing on this branch then falls on to the beat-sheet. Then I sort them out and collect ladybirds in to vials if there are any and let go of other insects. One person can do it, but it is much easier if there are two people, one to hold the beat-sheet while the other on hits the branch - I'm lucky to have wonderful field buddies who helped me out during my field seasons- Anne, Jin, Nishadi, An, Jess, Oddette & Jessica - Thank you all!!
Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASSAB) conference - July, 2019
I attended the annual Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASSAB) conference from the 8th - 10th July on Waiheke Island at Goldie Estate winery. I talked about colour variation in ladybirds. Ladybirds are known to have multiple colour morphs and variation in ladybird colour may influence their differences in their dispersal and establishment in introduced habitats.
Pic credits: Anne
My first article to all the curious kids....
Want to know why ladybirds have no tails? Go read my very first article for all the curious kids out there, published in Curious Kids: The Conversation.
Click to read the article: Why don't ladybirds have tails?
Thank you Lotte for your interest in ladybirds ...
68th New Zealand Entomological conference - February, 2019
I attended the 68th New Zealand entomological society conference from 7th - 9th February at Hamner Springs, Christchurch. I presented my work on NZ ladybird phylogeny and got some interesting feedback too. I also had the opportunity to listen to some great talks and interesting research. It was my first time in the south island and I was mesmerized by its beauty.
New Zealand Molecular Ecology conference & Ira Moana Datathon
- November, 2018
New Zealand molecular ecology meeting was held from 29th November - 2nd December 2018 in Palmerston North. It was my first ever molecular ecology meeting. I had the opportunity to learn a lot in molecular ecology research, become a network member of 'Ira Moana Network and Database' and had great fun camping at Campi Rangi woods.
Open day 2018 at Massey University
Thank you everyone for attending Massey University Open Day 2018! Jacques and I had a fun activity going for everyone - it was easy - you just had to colour a 3D printed ladybird (Aww!). Hope the discussions we had on animal colouration was interesting and you got to learn something new too!
Activity was designed by Daniel Thomas and photo credits to Akshya & Mehrnaz!
6th INMS Postgraduate Students' conference - October, 2018
On 25th October 2018, I attended the 6th INMS PGS conference for the third time. And I was also a part of the organising committee. It was an amazing experience to organise this event and to see all the research carried out by our colleagues. Thankful for the feedback I got for my talk. Congratulations to all the winners!
Pic credits: Shamim
Massey University thesis writing boot camp - October, 2018
I attended the late-stage thesis writing boot camp held at Massey University. It was very exciting to see how much words all of us managed to write within 2.5 days! Learnt a lot about writing, editing and getting over writer's blocks. A big thank you to the organisers and my fellow participants for the encouragement.
Pic credits - Mehrnaz
67th New Zealand Entomological conference - April, 2018
I attended the 67th New Zealand Entomological Society conference on 10-12 April, 2018 at Whanganui. I received two awards at the conference (Yeah!!) - KJ Fox award (a travel grant) and 21st Anniversary award for my research project on comparing physiological hardiness of ladybirds in New Zealand. I am extremely happy and thankful for the ESNZ!
Pic credits: Entomological Society New Zealand