The Effects of Plastic Consumption in Wax Worms and How They Can Help Our Environment
Location
CoLab, OCB 100
Start Date
27-4-2018 10:30 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
This experiment researches the feasibility of using greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), which have the ability to digest plastic in the larvae stage, for home composting of plastic bags. Such home composting could help reduce the volume of plastic bags thrown into the landfills and our environment. To measure the effect(s) (if any) of plastic consumption on the wax worm life cycle, the wax worms were separated into two different groups. The first group was placed into two separate but identically prepared jars with a substrate containing regular wax worm food and a wax paper ball. The second group was also placed in two separate but identically prepared jars with the substrate and a plastic bag ball. All the other variables, such as temperature and number of wax worms, were maintained constant. Every week, the amount of larvae deaths and adult moths were counted, and the amount of plastic consumed along with other significant observations recorded. Specifically, data collected from this experiment showed no obvious negative effects from plastic consumption iin the wax worm’s life cycle. This impacts the worms’ ability to be kept in a low maintenance home environment for small-scale, home-composting of plastic bags. In addition, individuals engaging in such home composting would be able to directly observe the impact of their efforts, providing positive reinforcement for continued environmentally-conscious efforts.
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The Effects of Plastic Consumption in Wax Worms and How They Can Help Our Environment
CoLab, OCB 100
This experiment researches the feasibility of using greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), which have the ability to digest plastic in the larvae stage, for home composting of plastic bags. Such home composting could help reduce the volume of plastic bags thrown into the landfills and our environment. To measure the effect(s) (if any) of plastic consumption on the wax worm life cycle, the wax worms were separated into two different groups. The first group was placed into two separate but identically prepared jars with a substrate containing regular wax worm food and a wax paper ball. The second group was also placed in two separate but identically prepared jars with the substrate and a plastic bag ball. All the other variables, such as temperature and number of wax worms, were maintained constant. Every week, the amount of larvae deaths and adult moths were counted, and the amount of plastic consumed along with other significant observations recorded. Specifically, data collected from this experiment showed no obvious negative effects from plastic consumption iin the wax worm’s life cycle. This impacts the worms’ ability to be kept in a low maintenance home environment for small-scale, home-composting of plastic bags. In addition, individuals engaging in such home composting would be able to directly observe the impact of their efforts, providing positive reinforcement for continued environmentally-conscious efforts.
Comments
The faculty supervisor for this project was Nancy Holcroft, Biology.