{"id":394,"date":"2020-09-18T13:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T01:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/?p=394"},"modified":"2020-09-07T14:05:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T02:05:06","slug":"a-mother-of-a-wasp-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/a-mother-of-a-wasp-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mother of a Wasp Problem …"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit Mick Whittle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When mum-to-be Gemma McLaughlin packs up her bucket and spade, it\u2019s not to practise sandcastle building for the baby who\u2019s due in December. Rather, she\u2019ll be off to dig up the nests of some of New Zealand\u2019s most hated insects – the German or the common wasp – dressed in protective bee-suit and layers of sting-proof denim, with a fellow researcher coming along for added safety.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s even got a Facebook page where members of the public can contact her about nests on their property.<\/p>\n

As to why Gemma\u2019s so keen to collect these aggressive pests: her PhD focuses on potential genetic techniques to eradicate these non-native nuisances. Ironically, though, while her ultimate aim might be to kill off these invasive critters, much of the practical work in the lab actually involves keeping them alive. \u201cThey\u2019re not like bees, no-one deliberately raises them,\u201d<\/em> she says.<\/p>\n

So Gemma\u2019s had to teach herself \u2018Wasp Husbandry 101\u2019 just to have live insects to study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe larvae are so demanding, so the workers are always foraging. They work so hard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This has given Gemma both plenty of work to do herself, raising broods of young wasps, and also \u201ca begrudging respect\u201d for the adults. Yet it also points to why these social insects are such a problem in New Zealand: that their incessant feeding robs many of our native species of food. Most infamous for consuming massive amounts of \u2018honeydew nectar\u2019 in beech forests (an important food for native animals), these wasps also eat substantial numbers of native insects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve also been known to kill baby chicks and clear out the carcass,\u201d<\/em> Gemma reckons.<\/p>\n

Helping get rid of this huge conservation threat, therefore, is one of Gemma\u2019s main motivations. \u201cI want to make a difference – I want to say I\u2019m doing worthwhile science,\u201d<\/em> she says. \u201cOur country is so unique.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo supplied by Gemma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s what led Gemma into genetics in the first place, and to completing a Masters\u2019 degree on the DNA of the Tasman booby, a remote island seabird.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were thought to be extinct and I was looking at whether the<\/em> [recently-rediscovered] island populations were in need of genetic rescue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

An OE in Europe then followed, including a job as a lab technician with a schizophrenia research group at King\u2019s College, London. \u201cI loved working there, it was really multinational,\u201d<\/em> Gemma recalls.<\/p>\n

Re-motivated by the experience, she returned to New Zealand determined to undertake an applied genetics project \u201con invasive species management<\/em>\u201d. Wasps seemed an ideal candidate, with the idea of targeting these particular insects for genetic control (say, by turning off genes) a novel area of research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels strange, like I\u2019m the first person doing this in the world,\u201d<\/em> Gemma says.<\/p>\n

Of course, while actually applying genetic technology to pest control is still \u201cyears away<\/em>\u201d, Gemma\u2019s already making a difference every time she turns up to dig up a wasp nest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to interact with the public a lot more than I would otherwise and get a better picture on their feelings towards genetic research.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Written by Mick Whittle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When mum-to-be Gemma McLaughlin packs up her bucket and spade, it\u2019s not to practise sandcastle building for the baby who\u2019s due in December. Rather, she\u2019ll be off to dig up the nests of some of New Zealand\u2019s most hated insects – the German or the common wasp – dressed in protective bee-suit and layers of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37560,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/go\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}