Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Denna rapport var baserad på ett experiment som gjordes på insektsarten Acheta domesticus också kallad hussyrsan. Målet med experimentet var att se hur syrsors tillväxt påverkas om de först ätit en sorts foder under en längre tid och sedan helt plötsligt får äta ett nytt foder. Anledningen till detta var för att se om man kunde anpassa syrsorna att äta ett specifikt foder så att de enklare skulle kunna användas som födokälla för människor. mer specifikt där det kanske finns begränsade foderkällor åt syrsorna. Experimentet genomfördes under en period på 5 veckor där två sorters syrsor fick testa varandras foder som de inte ärtigt förut. Syrsornas vikt jämfördes sedan med syrsor som åt samma foder som tidigare. Resultatet visade att det inte fanns någon korrelation mellan syrsornas foder och deras tillväxt. Det fanns däremot svaga indikationer på att ett av fodren möjligtvis var bättre. Det fanns dessutom en tydligt tillväxt skillnad mellan populationerna. Detta visar bara att det fanns genetiska skillnader mellan populationerna men visar ingenting om påverkan på foder över tid. Slutsatsen var att det inte fanns några tydliga skillnader mellan fodret och tillväxten på hussyrsan.

This report is about an experiment on the insect species Acheta domesticus also known as the house cricket. The goal with the experiment was to observe how the growth in these crickets differed between different populations reared on different types of feed. The focus was on two captive-reared populations that had only been eating one type of food for several generations and examine if the crickets had adapted to eating that specific type of feed in a cross-over feeding trial. This experiment would provide results for future studies into how crickets either adapt to specific foodstuffs over time, or are able to continue as feed generalists as part of broader questions into insect farming for human consumption. The experiment examined cricket growth over 5 weeks and compared individual growth in the two populations’ when fed feed they had been adapted to versus a feed that they had not encountered before. The results show that there wasn’t any correlation between growth and whether they had eaten that specific feed beforehand, although there were small indications that one of the feeds was better. There were also significant differences between the different populations when it came to growth. This was most likely only genetic differences between the populations, but this doesn’t show any effect the feed might have had. So, to conclude there was no significant difference in the different feeds that were given to the crickets since the growth didn’t seem to change with the feed.