Members of the chair
Chair of Entomology in 2022
Researchers
- Toomas Tammaru, Head of Chair, Professor of Entomology
- Toomas Esperk, Associate Professor in Zoology of Invertebrates
- Tiit Teder, Associate Professor of Entomology
- Robert Barry Davis, Research Fellow of Entomology
- Juhan Javoiš, Research Fellow of Entomology
- Ants Kaasik, Research Fellow of Biostatistics
- Erki Õunap, Research Fellow of Entomology
- Virve Sõber, Research Fellow of Entomology
- Sille Holm, Research Fellow of Entomology
- Anu Tiitsaar, Research Fellow of Entomology
Doctoral students
- Nidal Fetnassi, Determinants of lepidopteran diversity in Estonia and Morocco
- Stênio Ítalo Araújo Foerster, Phylogenetic comparative analysis of body size in moths
- Kerli Kuusk, Crowding effects in insect life histories: from phylogenetic meta-analyses to industrial applications
- Vineesh Nedumpally, Assembling a phylogenetic tree of Northern European moths
- Kadri Ude, The evolution of phenological patterns in insects: winter moths as an example
- Daniel Valdma, Patterns of butterfly diversity: from basic spatial ecology to conservation practices
- Auli Veske, Designing anthropogenic landscapes to promote butterfly diversity
Graduate students
- Liisa-Lotta Aug, Relationship between colouration and life-history traits in ladybirds (Coccinellidae)
- Kadi Tõnurist, Rearing density effects on life-history traits in Hermetia illucens
Toomas Tammaru
Head of the Department of Zoology, Professor of Entomology
Head of the Chair of Entomology
Mobile: 525 2420, office: Liivi 2, 433
toomas.tammaru@ut.ee
Research interests
- Evolutionary ecology, mainly relating to insect body size, oviposition and colouration
- Population ecology of herbivorous insects
- Phylogeny and distribution of Macrolepidoptera
Courses
- Evolutionary Ecology
- Insect Ecology
- Using Statistics in Ecology
- Scientific Writing for Graduate Students
Toomas has supervised 12 doctoral dissertations and 11 master's theses.
He is currently supervising 4 doctoral and 3 master students.
Publications Academic CV Wikipedia Personal webpage
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Toomas Esperk
Associate Professor in Zoology of Invertebrates
Mobile: 53 302 480, office: Liivi 2, 436
toomas.esperk@ut.ee
Research interests
- Effects of population density on insect life histories
- Intergenerational differences in Lepidoptera
- Insect growth curves
- Evolution of body size
Courses
- Invertebrate Zoology
- Field Course in Invertebrate Zoology
- Comparative Invertebrate Zoology
- Animal Ecophysiology
- Insect Ecology
- Biogeography
- Biodiversity in Estonia and Europe
- Field Course in Science Education
Toomas has supervised 1 doctoral dissertation, 3 master's theses and 3 bachelor's theses.
He is currently supervising 1 doctoral, 2 master and 2 bachelor students.
Tiit Teder
Associate Professor of Entomology
Mobile: 53 421 492, office: Liivi 2, 442
tiit.teder@ut.ee
Research interests
- Life history evolution (mainly in insects; body size, development time, growth rate, life span)
- Sexual size dimorphism, sex differences in development time, mortality and other life history traits
- Ecology (species richness, population dynamics) and conservation of butterflies
- Plant-insect interactions (herbivory, pollination)
Courses
- Insect Ecology
- Parasitology
- Field Course in Science Education
Tiit has supervised 5 doctoral dissertations, 8 master's theses and 12 bachelor's theses.
He is currently supervising 1 doctoral and 2 master students.
Publications Academic CV Personal webpage
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Robert Barry Davis
Research Fellow of Entomology
Office: Liivi 2, 440
robert.davis@ut.ee
Research interests
- Phylogenetic comparative analysis
- Supertrees
- Macroevolution
Courses
- Phylogenetic trees in Ecology and Evolution
Juhan Javoiš
Research Fellow of Entomology
Office: Liivi 2, 440
juhan.javois@ut.ee
Research interests
- Comparative ecology of Geometrid moths
Courses
- Insect Ecology
- Field Course in Invertebrate Zoology
Juhan has supervised 1 doctoral dissertation and 1 master's thesis.
Ants Kaasik
Research fellow of Biostatistics
Mobile: 53977954, home office
ants.kaasik@ut.ee
Research interests
- Using models with dependent observations in ecology
- Meta-analysis in atypical situations
Currently does not read courses; consults supervisors and students on statistics.
Ants has supervised 3 master's theses.
Erki Õunap
Research Fellow of Entomology
Phone: 737 5099, office: Liivi 2, 403
erki.ounap@ut.ee
Research interests
- Lepidopteran systematics, ecology and faunistics
Courses
- Entomology
- Insect Ecology
- Field Course in Invertebrate Zoology
Erki has supervised 1 doctoral dissertation and 2 master's theses.
He is currently supervising 1 doctoral student.
Virve Sõber
Research Fellow of Entomology
Mobile: 51 059 25, office: Liivi 2, 430
virve.sober@ut.ee
Research interests
- Ecology
- Plant-insect interactions
- Effect of land use on pollinator assemblages
- Plant-pollinator interactions in urban environments
- Conservation biology
- Conservation of native pollinators
Courses
- Green Entrepeneurship
- Insect Ecology
- Evolutionary Ecology
Virve has supervised 1 master's and 3 bachelor's theses.
She is currently supervising 4 bachelor students.
Publications Academic CV Wikipedia ORCID
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Sille Holm
Research Fellow of Entomology
Mobile: 5129610, office: Liivi 2, 440
sille.holm@ut.ee
Research interests
- Lepidoptera of tropical rainforests and their ecology
- Evolutionary ecology
- Insects as food and feed
Sille has supervised 1 master's and 1 bachelor's theses.
She is currently supervising 2 doctoral students.
Anu Tiitsaar
Research Fellow of Entomology
Research interests
- Ecology and trends in species richness of butterflies
- Monitoring and conservation of butterflies
Anu has supervised 3 master's theses.
Nidal Fetnassi
Doctoral student
Office: Liivi 2, 438
Phone number:
- +372 5394 2832 Est
- +212 626 415 846 Mar
Topic of dissertation
- Determinants of lepidopteran diversity in Estonia and Morocco
Academic interests
- Systematics
- Plant - Lepidoptera interactions
- Behavioural ecology
Academic CV ORCID ResearchGate
Stênio Ítalo Araújo Foerster
Doctoral student
Office: Liivi 2, 439
stenio.foerster@ut.ee
Topic of dissertation
- Phylogenetic comparative analysis of body size in moths
Academic interests
- Numerical ecology
- Macroecology
- Phylogenetic comparative analysis
Academic CV ORCID ResearchGate
Kerli Kuusk
Doctoral student
Office: Liivi 2, 438
Topic of dissertation
- Crowding effects in insect life histories: from phylogenetic meta-analyses to industrial applications
Academic interests
Vineesh Nedumpally
Doctoral student
Office: Liivi 2, 438
vineesh.nedumpally@ut.ee
Topic of dissertation
- Assembling a phylogenetic tree of Northern European moths
Academic interests
- Molecular phylogenetics
- Molecular ecology
- Population genetics
Publications ResearchGate
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Kadri Ude
Doctoral student
Mobile: 58027972, office: Liivi 2, 411
kadri.ude@ut.ee
Topic of dissertation
- The evolution of phenological patterns in insects: winter moths as an example
Academic interests
- evolutionary ecology of insects
- comparative studies
- diversity patterns in Lepidoptera
Daniel Valdma
Doctoral student
Mobile: , office: Liivi 2
daniel.valdma@ut.ee
Topic of dissertation
- Patterns of butterfly diversity: from basic spatial ecology to conservation practices
Academic interests
Academic CV ResearchGate
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Auli Veske
Doctoral student
Mobile: , office: Liivi 2
auli.veske@ut.ee
Topic of dissertation
- Designing anthropogenic landscapes to promote butterfly diversity
Academic interests
Liisa-Lotta Aug
Master student
Supervisor: Toomas Esperk
Co-supervisors: Toomas Tammaru, Kelly Kittus
The topic of master's thesis
- Relationship between colouration and life-history traits in ladybirds (Coccinellidae)
Main academic interests
- Coleoptera
- Colouration and patterns
- Behavioural ecology
Kadi Tõnurist
Master student
Supervisor: Toomas Esperk
Co-supervisor: Toomas Tammaru
The topic of master's thesis
- Rearing density effects on life-history traits in Hermetia illucens
Main academic interests
- Rearing density
- Effect of entomopathogens on life-history traits
- Industrial rearing of insects
