By Crystal Ly
Crawling through muddy soybean fields to inspect several plant-mounted microphones was not on Emily Sur's graduate school bingo card, but she's not mad about it.
For Sur, her research offers a unique opportunity for her to work at the intersection of entomology, agriculture and emerging technologies while still doing what she loves.
"I've always enjoyed being outdoors, so that's one of the things that drew me to this project, getting to work outside in the fields," said Sur, a master’s student in entomology at Kansas State University.
Sur leads a team of undergraduate students on a project that requires extensive fieldwork to collect unique data: the sounds of insects.
The results could transform how crop health is monitored across the agriculture sector.
Listening to insects
Sur and her students place microphones on soybean plants and record continuously for several days before removing the equipment and carefully examining the plants for evidence of insect activity.
Her research is part of the development of the Insect Eavesdropper, a collaborative, multistate project that uses sound, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to detect insects hidden within crops. The project is led by Emily Bick, professor of entomology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Source : k-state.edu