Classification, biodiversity and biogeography of insects

生物多样性对生态认识和环境管理至关重要。昆虫是生物多样性的重要组成部分，因为就物种和个体而言，它们往往是执行各种生态功能的最丰富的生物。然而，对于昆虫来说，地球上的物种总数只能粗略估计，对加拿大的动物群，包括特定栖息地类型的物种丰富度，只能进行初步的综合。昆虫是有用的，因为它们为分析许多高度复杂的系统提供了不同的机会，可以深入了解分类群之间的关系和群落的功能。因此，昆虫系统学对生物多样性研究具有重要意义。分类学的工作必须包括对生物多样性清单计划作出贡献的单独项目。标本和分类群的数量之多，需要专业化来发展权威的专门知识。我的系统研究强调对加拿大动物群的研究，因为这对我和我的学生来说都是可行的；人们对它的了解足以为研究提供基础，然而许多问题几十年来没有得到重视。次要重点放在其他北美地区（特别是丘吉尔，马尼托巴）和邻近的俄罗斯和新热带地区。在系统项目中，我研究一个分类群在多种生境中的分布。我专门研究水生足足类（鞘翅目），重点研究足足科，因为它们在当地非常丰富，并且经常在许多水生系统中形成数量优势的捕食者；它们是加拿大最多样化的科之一，有276种，排名第7 /118科；而且，它们提出了具有挑战性的分类和系统发育问题。在生物多样性项目中，我在一种栖息地中研究许多分类群。我的专业是草地生境类型的生物多样性，特别是各种草原或草原。草原在当地丰富而广泛，有一个巨大的独特而有趣的昆虫动物群，这在很大程度上是未知和未被充分探索的。

Biodiversity is critical to ecological understanding and environmental management. Insects are critical components of biodiversity as they are often the most abundant organism in terms of species and individuals performing various ecological functions. However, for insects, the total number of species on earth can only be crudely estimated and only preliminary syntheses are available for the Canadian fauna including species richness for particular habitat types. Insects are useful because of the diverse opportunities they provide for analysis of numerous highly complex systems providing insight into the relationship among taxa and the function of communities. Therefore systematics of insects is of critical importance for biodiversity studies. Work in systematics must consist of separate projects contributing to a program of the inventory of biodiversity. The sheer number of specimens and taxa require specialization for development of authoritative expertise. My systematic research emphasizes study of the Canadian fauna because it is accessible to me and my students; it is sufficiently known to provide a foundation for research, yet many problems have not received attention for decades. Secondary emphasis is placed on other North American regions (particularly Churchill, Manitoba) and adjacent Russian and the Neotropics. In systematic projects, I study one taxon in many kinds of habitats. I specialize in the study of aquatic Adepahga (Coleoptera) with emphasis on the family Dytiscidae because they are locally abundant and often form the numerically dominant predators in many aquatic systems; they are one of the most diverse families in Canada with 276 species ranking them 7th/118 families;and, they present challenging taxonomic and phylogenetic problems. In biodiversity projects, I study many taxa in one kind of habitat. I specialize in biodiversity of grassland habitats types, notably various kinds of prairies or grasslands. Grasslands were locally abundant and widespread, had an enormous unique and interesting insect fauna which remains largely unknown and underexplored.