Tracking food choice in Halyomorpha halys(Brown marmorated stink bug) using video analysis
- Beschreibung
How can we reliably measure which foods insects choose from video recordings? In this project, students will compare different video analysis tools using existing recordings of the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys. Each trial contains two Petri dishes, each with three insects and three food options.
Two students can work independently to find different software and tools for animal movement tracking. They will review relevant literature, formulate hypotheses, and develop an evaluation protocol. The Tools will analyze the same selected recordings, and their outputs will be compared with independently annotated reference observations. Students will assess missed insects, false detections, food occupancy estimates, processing time, and the manual effort required.
Where tracking is sufficiently reliable, students will explore initial food choice and prolonged stationary occupancy on food. Such occupancy will be treated as a proxy for probable feeding, not proof of feeding. Initial choice will only be assessed in recordings containing the start of food exposure.
The project will produce a documented software comparison, validated pilot data and a recommendation for further analysis. Results will be presented through an abstract and poster. The focus is a manageable pilot study rather than processing the entire video collection.
- Projektzeitraum
- Wintersemester 2026/2027
- Bewerbungszeitraum
- 12. bis 26.10.2026
- Durchführung
- semesterbegleitend
- Studienfach
- offen für alle Studienfächer
- Betreuende
- Nirakar Panda
- Institut
- Institut für Biologie (190) (Molecular Genetics)
- Sprache
- englisch
- Teilnehmendenanzahl
- min. 1, max. 2
- Arbeitsaufwand
-
ca. 180 Stunden pro Teilnehmende:r
| 6
ECTS-Punkte
Arbeitsaufwand (Stunden und ggf. ECTS) sind ungefähre Angaben. Die tatsächlich vergebenen ECTS-Punkte ergeben sich aus der tatsächlich geleisteten Arbeit.
- Für dieses Projekt ist kein Motivationsschreiben des Studierenden erforderlich
- Projektart
- experimentell
- Lernziele
-
Die Teilnehmende lernen in diesem Projekt:
By the end of the project, students will be able to:
- Search and critically evaluate literature on insect behaviour and video tracking.
- Formulate research questions and design a fair software comparison.
- Quantify detection errors and validate food occupancy estimates.
- Interpret behavioural results while recognising uncertainty and limits of feeding proxies.
- Document reproducible workflows and communicate findings through an abstract and poster.
- Anmerkungen für Studierende
- Dokument
- Schlagworte
- insect