Thesis subject
Insect landing behaviour on moving flowers
Insects are important pollinators in both nature and agriculture. For example, in one hour of foraging, a bee can land on and consequently pollinate more than 1000 flowers. Strikingly, these animals can do so in very difficult conditions, such as in high winds when flowers sway rapidly in the wind.
In this thesis project, you will study how insects land on rapidly moving artificial flowers. You will help develop the experimental setup, including the moving artificial flower and a stereoscopic high-speed camera system. You will then collect and train insects to land on the flower mimic, and record / analyse these landings with a stereoscopic video system.
The skills your will be using/learning are e.g.:
- Experimental design
- Insect behaviour
- Working with live animals
- 3D high speed video techniques
- programming
- Statistics
Are you interested? Please contact via ezo.thesis@wur.nl.