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Lights, camera, caterpillars!

Graduate student Christopher Plenzich is in the running for NSERC's Science, Action! video prize
March 14, 2016
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By Tom Peacock


Christopher Plenzich, a master’s student in Biology, recently submitted a video to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Science Action! Video Contest.

The one-minute film, called En Masse, shows forest tent caterpillars on the hunt for food. Plenzich is encouraging people to watch it because the 15 submissions with the most views will make it to the final round. The winners of Science Action! will be determined by a panel of judges.

We asked Plenzich about how he became interested in his chosen research topic.


‘The caterpillars began to grow on me.’

Christopher Plenzich: It all began three years ago when I was looking for a master's supervisor. I contacted Emma Despland and met with her. I was offered a position to work with these caterpillars.

Admittedly, I was completely lost when I began my research. I had just finished my undergrad in environmental sciences and was looking for a change, and I did not have much training in biology.

It took some time, but after spending every day alone with the caterpillars, they began to grow on me. Fast-forward to three years later, and I've almost completed my master's with them, and had a very successful art exhibit in collaboration with Alison Reiko Loader.

Was your decision to enter the contest inspired by your collaboration?

CP: Yes it was! The footage I used for the video entry came from what I shot with Alison Reiko Loader for our En Masse exhibit. I thought it was just another interesting and different way to portray my master's research. The footage was shot in collaboration with Alison.

Where are you at right now with your research? 

CP: I'm finishing up. I actually hope to submit my thesis by the end of the week and schedule a defense date!

In the video, you conclude that your findings could have positive implications for forest managers. Can you elaborate?

The forest tent caterpillar is an outbreaking species. This means that at times, their population can be really low, and at other times, their population peaks in forests, which can cause damage to trees because the caterpillars must constantly eat to sustain their transformation into a moth (since they can't eat as a moth because they emerge with a non-functional mouth).

The mechanisms that cause an outbreak are complex, so the more we know about the caterpillar behaviour, the better we can predict and mitigate any negative effects they cause.

What my research found is that when these caterpillars are eating leaves that are not optimally nutritious, they would rather leave the safety of their colony and venture out and perhaps find better quality food, but risk encountering a predator.

Also, social caterpillars, like the forest tent caterpillar, make great models to study group behaviour because they are easily manageable and there has been quite a bit of research done on them.

So, by extrapolating the findings from these caterpillars to other larger animals, we can get a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of how animals groups are formed and how they disperse.


Find out more about the
Department of Biology.

 

Thumbnail by Greg Hume via Wikimedia Commons.

 



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