Viksu winner gripped by ‘beetlemania’

Almost ten years after placing fourth in the Viksu science competition in 2002, Mikko Pentinsaari is still very much engaged in the same research topic: beetles. Today, Mikko researches biology at the University of Oulu and is about to start work on his doctoral thesis.

“My Viksu project dealt with how different baits attract carrion beetles. It really gave me a taste of doing real research. In addition, it convinced me that a career in biology and research is what I want to pursue,” says Mikko.

Defining the material the toughest bit

Mikko first heard about the Viksu competition from Antti Rönkä, his biology teacher at Oulun lyseon lukio upper secondary school. “Antti helped me a lot in shaping my research design and the catching methods, as did Juhani Itämies, the curator of the Zoological Museum at the University of Oulu. Over the summer, the carrion-baited traps lured a much greater number of beetles than I’d expected. So the hardest part of the work was actually to make an inventory of the material. In the end, I had to discard some of the material and write the paper in kind of a hurry,” Mikko remembers.

“I was very happy to have done so well. Placing fourth was a real surprise, because I wasn’t fully pleased with my work. After all, I’d done it all in a bit of a hurry. I used the prize money to buy most of the book series Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, a German beetle book series vital to any beetle enthusiast or researcher.”

While Mikko’s Viksu win did not secure him a chance to study biology, he did get into the biology programme at Oulu by taking the entrance exam. He earned money on the side by, for example, identifying beetles for various research and species-mapping projects and teaching a course in species identification of invertebrates and a field course in terrestrial animals.

Starting a career in research

After finishing his Master’s degree, Mikko has been working on a digitising project for the Botanical Museum and the Zoological Museum at Oulu. His research career will really get off the ground in early December 2011, when he will start his doctoral thesis work with a grant from the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation.

“My Master’s thesis dealt with the difficulties in species determination in a particular, complex group of beetles, and my Doctoral thesis will build on that work. I want to investigate the use of DNA barcoding for the identification of cryptic species. I’ll be looking at rove beetles, Staphylinidae, and one of their larger subfamilies Aleocharinae,” Mikko explains.

His doctoral thesis is linked to a larger Finnish project aiming to barcode all multicellular organisms in Finland. The project is headed by Marko Mutanen, who also supervises Mikko’s thesis work.

“In my spare time I try to collect as much material as I can. Luckily, I have permission to spend part of my working hours collecting as well. My job involves a lot of data feeding, which can be a bit tedious. So ‘mixing it up’ is always a good idea,” Mikko says.

Almost like a paid hobby

You would think working with beetles would have chipped away at Mikko’s passion. But no, he still has time for them even in his spare time. “It gives me valuable beetle material that I can use for my thesis and other projects. In fact, at its best, my work feels more like I’m getting paid to do my hobby, even if I do have deadlines and targets to meet.”

Mikko’s “beetlemania” does take up most of his time, but he still manages to squeeze in other hobbies as well, such as reading, beer tasting and plant photography. “I can take pictures of plants while I’m doing my insect thing,” he says. “It gives me a chance to improve both my camera handling skills and my knowledge of plants.”

Mikko is also active in a beetle working group, which operates under the Finnish environmental administration, and a board member of a soon-to-be-established Nordic beetle association. “Last summer the working group made an inventory trip to Lapland, visiting Urho Kekkonen National Park and Sompio National Park. After the trip, I spent some time collecting beetles, enjoying the scenery and photographing plants in Karigasniemi, Utsjoki and Nuorgam. I found a few beetle species I didn’t know from before and collected many valuable DNA samples. I even stumbled on many plants and vertebrates I hadn’t seen before! All in all, the trip was a great success, even though I didn’t make any earth-shattering discoveries.”

Fascinated by biodiversity

Just what is it then that Mikko finds so fascinating about science and research? “I see science as a systematic and rational method of acquiring new knowledge. I’m especially intrigued by nature’s infinite variety, its origins and its history. In the future, I’d very much like to look into the field of biological systematics, which studies the classification of and the relationships among all living things. I don’t know why, but I just like learning something new every day,” Mikko says.

Text: Heidi Blomqvist
Photos: Mikko Pentinsaari