This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: 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. Her research offers a unique opportunity 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.
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, a professor of entomology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Bick invented the Insect Eavesdropper, a scientific instrument designed to detect, identify and quantify insect activity by recording the faint plant vibrations that humans can't normally hear. The goal for the technology is to make pest monitoring more precise and continuous, which could enable earlier detection. "Many insects that cause economic damage are difficult to see since they feed inside plants, below ground or during times when scouting is impractical," Bick said.
"By 'eavesdropping' on the vibrations insects create as they feed and interact with a plant, we can detect activity without destroying the plant and, ultimately, help growers make better-timed, more targeted management decisions." Developing a useful tool requires expertise across entomology, engineering, artificial intelligence and real-world crop systems, and Bick's lab released the tool for free use by other academics to help support interdisciplinary development and adoption. At K-State, Sur is working with her adviser, Brian McCornack, department head and professor of entomology at Kansas State University, as well as other university researchers to test the technology in soybean fields and cotton-filled greenhouses against the questions and conditions growers actually face. McCornack's Field Crop Integrated Pest Management Lab—also known as the "McLab"—was one of the project's first adopters, providing the Bick Lab with critical feedback during its development.
K-State's work in deploying the technology this summer has focused on Dectes texanus—also known as the soybean stem borer—which burrows into plant stems and is difficult to detect without cutting open live plants. "By using this new tool, we can detect these insidious invaders without needing to sacrifice plants," McCornack said. The project demonstrates how, with the right alignment, interdisciplinary research can accelerate the path from promising technology to practical agricultural tools.
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