Guanajuato, Gto., January 6, 2016.- Dr. Milan Janda, ascribed professors to the Department of Biology from the University of Guanajuato (UG), was part of an international expedition with the objective to document the biological diversity from the Salomon Islands and help the locals in South Pacific create a protected zone to preserve the flora and fauna.

The South pacific University in Fiji and the American Museum of Natural History, among other institutions, organized the expedition. Dr. Janda and his workgroup were invited to collaborate because they have researched the diversity of insects for the last 14 years –specially ants-- that exist in Southeast Asia and South Pacific. This time they focused in studying plants, animals and insects in a remote area from the Salomon Islands, Guadalcanal.

More than 20 scientists from 8 countries participated in this expedition and found more than 100 species of ants all around, many of them never described before; besides information that will allow to study the evolution in the islands, the evolution of the species and even make follow up research that could result in the discovery of new microbial organisms.

However, Dr. Janda, professor and researcher from Campus Guanajuato, clarified that because of the great quantity of information received, the full impact of this project is still unknown.

"This area hasn't been studies for basically, 50, 100 years or more and I was responsible of several studies of insect diversity, so we focused on specific groups primarily ants – our group of interest—but also were studying moths, butterflies and other insects like beetles", mentioned the entomologist.

The researcher explained that the insects are the abundant organisms in earth, "they represent more than 80% of the diversity", therefore, their study contributes on creating questions and answers about the evolution and conservation of the species.

Besides, he highlighted that the expedition to Guadalcanal is unique, because it was made together with the local community, "there was a balance between international researchers, from the Salomon Islands, students and native communities".

He added that great part of the expedition was very educational, since they tried to teach the local students and scientists about the research methods and the form to process the data and information. "Each time we see more these type of approaches and it is something we try to replicate in several places and use the same system in Chiapas, Oaxaca o in Salomon Islands or any other place, I think is very important that there are interactions among the locals, researchers and also students that can participate directly in the field".

Participating in this international project, students from the University of Guanajuato, not only participate in discoveries with high scientific value, but also can learn to process and analyze the information from unique areas in the world, that practically have not been explored", exposed Dr. Milan Janda.

To all the youth interested in Entomology, the professor advised them to be open to different questions and diversify their interests, try to use the discipline to plan questions "more general questions about life, evolution and ecology".

"Mexico has a great history in aspects of entomological research, there are many field that are waiting to be explores and I think is a fascinating area, especially considering the type of techniques that we actually have and that allows is to study them efficiently", he finalized.