...click/look away now. But if you are, or are just curious to know more, read on!
The little tupperware above are filled with wasps at different life stages - larvae, pupae, adult (right to left, because these are Japanese wasps after all) - ready for micronutrient analysis.
But we're not just going to analyse their nutrient content at different stages of the life cycle, we're also looking at the effect of wasp rearing on micronutrient content.
In the photo above, each row represents a single nest. The top row, and the third row down, are from wild nests. The second and fourth rows are from reared nests. This means their food will have been completely different - reared wasps are fed a rich but monotonous diet of meat and sugar, while wild wasps must forage in the fields and forests for insects and nectar.
Hopefully, in a few weeks time, we'll be able to answer the question of whether certain micronutrients are found at high or low levels depending on how the wasps were reared, which will hopefully lead to further work on the topic of whether insect semi-domestication has measurable effects. It's a tiny sample so this will only be only preliminary data..but I'm looking forward to finding out the results!
But we're not just going to analyse their nutrient content at different stages of the life cycle, we're also looking at the effect of wasp rearing on micronutrient content.
In the photo above, each row represents a single nest. The top row, and the third row down, are from wild nests. The second and fourth rows are from reared nests. This means their food will have been completely different - reared wasps are fed a rich but monotonous diet of meat and sugar, while wild wasps must forage in the fields and forests for insects and nectar.
Hopefully, in a few weeks time, we'll be able to answer the question of whether certain micronutrients are found at high or low levels depending on how the wasps were reared, which will hopefully lead to further work on the topic of whether insect semi-domestication has measurable effects. It's a tiny sample so this will only be only preliminary data..but I'm looking forward to finding out the results!
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