Oyundelger Khurelpurev - from Mongolia to Görlitz and Zittau
As a resident of the world's last nomadic country, wildlife and nature have been an important part of my life since I was a child, which sparked my interest in the natural world. Based on my keen interest, I have studied the "Ecology and Nature Conservation" in my bachelor's study at the National University of Mongolia (NUM). This is where I got more and more concerned with natural mechanisms and began to investigate them in a scientific manner. I have been attending in the various fieldworks in every summer and met with researchers from different countries, which provided me a true feeling of being a biologist.
My passion for biology prompted me to pursue further education and scientific research in the field, and I chose to pursue a master's degree in Germany. In 2015, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a grant from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SNG) for my master’s study “Biodiversity and Collection Management”, which collaborated with TU Dresden, the International Institute (IHI) of Zittau, and the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz. As one of the first international students of this English-language master's program, I had the opportunity to listen to lectures by experienced scientists and to work more research-based in very practice-oriented courses, which corresponded very well with my interests and ideas. Moreover, I had the opportunity to get into contact with international students from over ten different countries, and I gained valuable experience in intercultural fluency, teamwork, and overcoming language / cultural barriers.
During my master's study, I deepened my personal research interest in population genetics and evolutionary biology of plants, which was inspired from my supervisors, who have been working in the field of Mongolian flora for a long time. Hence, I did my master's thesis on the population genetics of Mongolian feather grass species (Stipa L.) under the supervision of two outstanding botanists, and successfully published the results in the peer-reviewed journal Flora (Oyundelger et al., 2020) “. During my master's thesis, I got a lot of hands-on experience in the lab with methods such as DNA extraction, PCR, microsatellite marker amplification, and sequence data analyses, but also learned various statistical approaches to explain the biological background and effects of ecological (climate, vegetation and soil) factors.
Furthermore, together with my supervisors, we were willing to contribute more research on dryland keystone plants, because there is a significant shortage on population genetic studies among dryland species, notably in Mongolia. As a result, I began to draft a project focusing on evolutionary biology and population genetics of one of the key dryland species Artemisia frigida, a key dryland species that has a broad distribution and different cytotypes. Based on the project proposal, I was able to obtain a promotion grant from TU Dresden, allowing me to conduct the research project. Meanwhile, I have published two papers in peer-reviewed journals of “Conservation Genetics” (Oyundelger et al., 2021a) and the “Evolutionary Biology “(Oyundelger 2021b), from my planned PhD proposal; and currently, I am at my final stages of the promotion.
Lastly, I am honored to be one of the alumnis of IHI Zittau and a member of a botanical department team at Senckenberg Görlitz, where I always get some supports and learned a lot about communication skills, and work ethic in a friendly team environment.
Oyundelger. Kh., Ritz, C., Oyunbileg, M., Lang, B., Ahlborn, J., Oyuntsetseg, B., Römermann, C. and Wesche, K. (2020). Climate and land use affect genetic structure of Stipa glareosa P. A. Smirn. in Mongolia. Flora – Special Issue on Steppe Ecology. 266: 151572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2020.151572
Oyundelger, Kh., Herklotz, V., Harpke, D.,Oyuntsetseg, B.,Wesche, K. and Christiane. R. (2021a) Contrasting effects of local environment and grazing pressure on the genetic diversity andstructure of Artemisia frigida. Conservation Genetics, 1-16.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-021-01375-w
Oyundelger, Kh., Harpke, D., Herklotz, V., Troeva, E., Zheng, Z., Li, Z., Oyuntsetseg, B., Wagner, V., Wesche, K. and Ritz, C.M. (2021b). Phylogeography of Artemisia frigida (Anthemideae, Asteraceae) based on genotyping-by-sequencing and plastid DNA data: Migration through Beringia. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 35, 64-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13960