RUSSIAN version

Department of Vertebrate Zoology

Sergei V. OGURTSOV

associate professor, Ph.D

e-mail: compclass7@yandex.ru

Born in 1976 in Moscow, Russia. Received M.Sc. degree at Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in 1999. In 2002-2009 worked as a research scientist in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology of the Faculty of Biology MSU. Ph.D thesis entitled 'Learning the native pond odour as one of the mechanisms of chemosensory orientation of anuran amphibians' at Faculty of Biology MSU in 2004. Since 2009 became an associate professor of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology. Member of A.M.Nikolsky's Herpetological Society. Designer of the Department's website.

RESEARCH

Current research includes the following themes:

- chemosensory orientation of juvenile frogs and toads near the native pond

- spatial behaviour of adult frogs and toads within their summer home ranges

- spatial learning of adult frogs and toads in laboratory open-field experiments

- homing behaviour in adult frogs and toads

I also assist in conducting field research and statistical data analysis in projects on comparative skin peptides sequencing of amphibians, on the spatial ecology of the Common wolf and on parent-offspring communication in European lynx. I'm the author and co-author of 46 publications.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Currently I teach the following courses: General Practice in Vertebrate Anatomy, Computer Methods in Biological Research, Seminar 'Actual Problems of Vertebrate Zoology', Data Analysis in Biological Research, Special Vertebrate Zoology.  I read single lectures in Methods of Field Research, Biology and Systematics of Amphibians and Reptiles, Animal Behaviour. I am engaged in Summer Field Practice on Vertebrate Zoology including the supervision of student short-term reasearch at Zvenigorod Biological station. I also take part in the international field practice program together with our American colleagues from Cranberry Lake Biological Station of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry of the State University of New York (USA). The Russian part of the program is conducted at the White Sea Biological Station.

I was a scientific supervisor of 2 B.Sc. and 4 M.Sc. theses and 1 Ph.D student. At present I work together with my post-graduate student (now the researcher of the Department) Vladimir V. Shakhparonov and undergraduate student Vladislav Antipov.

In 2007 I became one of the winners of the Competition among Junior Teachers of State Institutes of Higher Education held by Vladimir Potanin Foundation with the lecture entitled 'Non-traditional Systems of Animal Spatial  Orientation: Geomagnetic Orientation'.

PUBLICATIONS available in English:

Ogurtsov S.V., 2004. Olfactory orientation in anuran amphibians // Russian Journal of Herpetology, V. 11, №1, p. 35-40.  [download pdf-file]

Ogurtsov S.V., 2005. Basis of native pond fidelity in anuran amphibians: the case of chemical learning // In: Ananjeva N. and Tsinenko O. (eds.), Herpetologica Petropolitana. Proc. of the 12th Ord. Gen.Meeting Soc. Eur. Herpetol., August 12-16, 2003, St. Petersburg, Russian Journal of Herpetology, 12(Suppl.), pp.198-200. [download pdf-file]

Ogurtsov S.V., 2007. Influence of Chemical Exposition during Larval Development on Postmetamorphic Behaviour of Juveniles of  Three Anuran Species // Sovremennaya Herpetologia, V. 7, N.1/2, pp. 88-97. (In Russian with an English Abstract) [download pdf-file]

Ogurtsov S.V., 2008. Space Utilization during Summer Period in Adult Common Toads, Bufo bufo // Problems of Herpetology. Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the Nikolsky Herpetological Society. St.Petersberg: St.Petersburg University Press. pp. 319-327.  (In Russian with an English Abstract) [download pdf-file]

Ogurtsov S.V., Bastakov V.A., 2001. Imprinting on native pond odour in the pool frog, Rana lessonae Cam. // Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 9., Marchlewska-Koj A., Lepri J.J. and Muller-Schwarze D. eds., Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, p. 433-438. [download pdf-file]

Samgina T.Y., Artemenko K.A., Gorshkov V.A., Ogourtsov S.V., Zubarev R.A., Lebedev A.T., 2008. De novo sequencing of peptides secreted by the skin glands of the Caucasian Green Frog Rana ridibunda // Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, V.22, p. 3517-3525.  [download pdf-file]

Samgina T.Y., Artemenko K.A., Gorshkov V.A., Ogourtsov S.V., Zubarev R.A., Lebedev A.T., 2009. Mass spectrometric study of peptides secreted by the skin glands of the brown frog Rana arvalis from the Moscow region // Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, V.23, p. 1241-1248 [download pdf-file]

Shakhparonov V.V., Ogurtsov S.V., 2005. The role of the native pond odour in orientation of the green toad (Bufo viridis) youngs-of-the-year // In: Ananjeva N. and Tsinenko O. (eds.), Herpetologica Petropolitana. Proc. of the 12th Ord. Gen.Meeting Soc. Eur. Herpetol., August 12-16, 2003, St. Petersburg, Russian Journal of Herpetology, 12(Suppl.), pp.209-212.  [download pdf-file]

Shakhparonov V.V., Ogurtsov S.V., 2008. Pond Search Orientation in The Marsh Frog, Rana ridibunda // Problems of Herpetology. Proceedings of the 3rd Meeting of the Nikolsky Herpetological Society. St.Petersberg: St.Petersburg University Press. pp. 439-446. (In Russian with an English Abstract) [download pdf-file]

Shakhparonov V.V., Ogurtsov S.V., 2008. Seasonal and Geographical Variability of Orientation Behavior in the Marsh Frog (Rana Ridibunda) in Search of Its Own Water Body // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, V.87, N.9, pp. 1062-1076. (In Russian with an English Abstract) [download pdf-file]