Snap, Crackle, Pop--Eavesdropping on Insects in Stored Products

Mentor: Richard Mankin

Abstract:   Kathleen participated in a project to examine the detectability of sounds made by Indian meal moth, rice weevil, and other insects in birdseed, grain, and other stored products, and to compare the qualities and patterns of sounds made by different insects in different stored products.

SSTP Student Kathleen Towers use a computer program to analyze insect acoustical signals.

SSTP Student Kathleen Towers listens to individual kernels of wheat to find ones infested with rice weevil larvae.  A highly sensitive piezoelectric sensor is being used to detect the vibrations made by the larva while it moves and feeds inside the kernel.

SSTP Student Kathleen Towers listens to sounds being made by Indian meal moth larvae in a jar of birdseed.  She is using the AED-2000 acoustic probe inside an anechoic chamber that shields the probe from background noise.  The AED-2000 was developed two years ago in a cooperative research project with an acoustic instrumentation manufacturer.