As a full-time Master’s student in Organismic Biology, Evolutionary Biology, and Paleobiology at the University of Bonn, Germany, Ariana N. Klappert has been involved in a number of conservation initiatives, both as a social media producer for a German Instagram channel (@punkt.erde) as well as collecting data while out in the field. I chatted with Ariana about choosing to study mammals, finding opportunities in the pandemic, and #MammalMonday.

Thanks for hanging out with me Ariana! As students, we’re often faced with many forks in the road when deciding on where we want to wind up. What did that fork in the road look like for you?

I would say it was during my bachelors’ thesis while I was struggling to decide where I wanted to go in biology. The way our classes had been set up – as well as the way some of our tutors had spoken about the field – left me with the feeling that I would have to choose between lab and fieldwork and that you were either good at genetics or classical zoology, but not both. This turned out to be a total misconception! Once I started reading more publications and found topics like genetic conservation and taxonomy, I realized how wrong that original feeling was. Up until that point I had been so worried I would have to either conform to something I only half-wanted or would have to start my own field somehow. Thankfully I had a very supportive genetics professor at the time who really encouraged me to do both. This led to me doing my thesis in a research museum that does it all – morphology, genetics, ecology, you name it! What started as me worrying about finding a research topic that fit me wound up becoming a dream research experience of seemingly endless amounts of research possibilities. 

Proper support really can make the difference between success and failure. Who else has helped shape your journey so far?

My parents have always told me to do what I enjoy and to follow my dreams, and although those dreams may have changed slightly from when I was a little kid, they continue to support me in the dreams I have now. Additionally, my parents, my friends, and boyfriend are all very good at reminding me to relax and not overwork myself! 

That must have been welcome advice, especially during the pandemic.

Absolutely, especially as the pandemic strongly affected my education. A lot of the classes I was excited about had to be canceled and it became difficult to gain the field experience I so deeply desired.

That said it also opened up quite a few unplanned doors. It was pretty much the incentive I needed to dive into science communication, especially using social media as a platform. I think social media is a fantastic way to capture people’s interest via visuals, and then to use that interest to dive into a topic, all while also being able to show that researchers and science itself aren’t as dry as some people think. I wasn’t really into social media before the pandemic, but its potential became extremely clear during lockdowns. I got to connect with so many scientists and science communicators whose enthusiasm to share their work was just so inspiring. So inspiring, that I jumped in and went for it myself. It helped turn a fun side interest of mine into a true passion.

“I feel that conservation is just as much about the research as it is about communicating that research.”

Ariana Klappert
Master’s student at the University of Bonn

More recently, once fieldwork was doable again, opportunities popped up that I may not have had if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. When I started my master’s program I had a clear plan to do fieldwork on African antelopes. While this is still very much a dream of mine, it wasn’t really a feasible dream when the pandemic hit. As a result, I had to look for other opportunities. What I found was the chance to learn more about small mammals in Germany, something I am very glad I did. 

Tell me more about #MammalMonday and your use of social media to inspire, educate, and build a community.

I find all of nature beautiful, but I have always been particularly drawn to mammals. I am thus really fascinated by Mammalogy and I am working to specialize in this field. So when I decided I wanted to start using social media more, I quickly realized I wanted to share fascinating mammal facts and topics. It just made sense to create a reoccurring event on mammals, hence #MammalMonday. 

Seeing as the alliteration is perfect, I am not the only one who does this. It’s actually quite a thing in mammal circles on Twitter, but as far as I could tell, it wasn’t really as much of a thing on Instagram at the time. I guess I stumbled into filling part of that niche. It’s been fun for me too. I finally have a reason to use some of my pictures, plus I sometimes end up doing hours of research for a single post and learn so many new things as well. It has also been so much fun finding so many like-minded people. It’s been a great way to connect with other scientists and science communicators around the world. The best part is when someone reacts to the posts, saying they hadn’t known that before either or asking questions to dive deeper into the topics. 

I can certainly relate to that experience on social media – it’s very motivating hearing from others that something you’ve created can have a strong impact and inspire others to dig deeper into a subject.

I like the feeling that I am doing something meaningful. Science is all about researching the world around us. The more we know, the better we can deal with and help the world around us. In the field I have gone into (zoology/mammalogy), it’s about learning more about the animals that live amongst us. The more we learn about them, the better we can live among them and protect them. That information we gather is what we can share with the rest of the world and if I manage to spark interest in a single person to any of those topics that day, then it was a fantastic day!

I feel that conservation is just as much about the research as it is about communicating that research. We will always need full-time science communicators who have the skills and abilities to adequately share science with those outside of the scientific community. I find it fascinating just how easy it is today for a scientist to get their research out into the world themselves. All they need to do is take some pictures or create a video on their phone and share it online. More and more conservationists and scientists seem to be doing exactly that and I love it because who can tell you more about a topic than an expert on that topic? Who can get you more excited about something than someone who is already 100% excited about it? I will admit that it might not be for all scientists, but for those who would like to share their work, I think they should give it a try.

What would you like to tell those students that want to give science communication on Instagram or other social media platforms a try?

Start with self-compassion. It’s easy to get lost in wanting everything to be perfect from the start, but it won’t always be. You will always find something that could have made the video, picture, or whatever you’re doing better. But that’s also the beauty of it. We learn and get better with every try. 

How do you hope to fit into this growing world of scientists communicating their work?

In the future, I would like to continue to learn more about how scientists can communicate their research best. I’d like to teach these two passions – mammalogy and science communication – to university students someday. If all goes well, then hopefully I will someday be in a position in which I can inspire someone as much as others have inspired me. 

You can follow along with Ariana on Instagram #MammalMonday and @biologist_in_training.