SUMMER STUDENT - Entomology Student Opportunity - Scion

The primary objective of the work/project: 

The project aims to increase our understanding through the development of new research and technology for insect olfactory responses to host volatiles and pheromones to better understand why an insect trap works, what is the area of influence around a trap and therefore how far apart the traps need to be for effective surveillance.

The large strategic outcome is to understand how cerambycids and bark beetles are interacting with traps and lure volatiles to inform biosecurity surveillance methods. 

The student will contribute to the expected outcomes by providing data science, laboratory and field technical assistance.

Research Abstract:

This project includes a laboratory electrophysiology experiment and field trapping experiment which explores using insect pheromones to increase the effectiveness of trapping wood boring beetles in managed forests. A large part of the project is in the review and annotation of raw electroantennogramme (EAG) data for insect antennal responses to pheromones. The collation of data to build an EAG response library that will be used to train a machine learning algorithm for automatically identifying the response. The project will require efficiency in computer skills with Microsoft Excel, learning new annotation software and developing and refining R-script for data analysis.

What the student will do: 

There will be both laboratory and field components for the duration of this work.

Data science:

Review and annotation of EAG dataset, data analysis of EAG data set and summary of data using R.

Laboratory work:

Maintaining healthy insect colonies and specimens for the duration of the research trials, sorting samples by identifying and counting insect species under a microscope and handling of insect pheromone and lures.

Field work:

Sample collection for the Arhopalus ferus field bioassay and maintenance of the camera trap field test.

Other work will include equipment maintenance and analysis of camera trap data, tagging photos by species for image recognition.

The ideal candidate will have strong computer skills specifically in the use of MS Excel, R and R Studio. A good knowledge of statistical data analysis and ability to run summary statistics on resulting data. Being field capable with a willingness to work outdoors is a plus and be happy to handle with live insect specimens and preserved insect samples.

The internship will benefit the student by giving them experiencing in new data annotating techniques and statistical analysis, laboratory research particularly in insect rearing and insect identification and maintaining a field trial in a production forest,

Qualifications, skills and attributes needed:

• Bachelor of Science in Biological Science, Forestry, or Biosecurity, and or minor in Statistics.
• Experience working in a laboratory, or a general biological science background is essential.
• Strong computer data entry and analysis skills are required, with knowledge of Microsoft Excel and the statistical package R and R studio.
• Willingness to work in a team and alone, self-driven
• Excellent oral communication abilities
• Full Drivers licence