After bringing the caterpillars back to the Ambient lab the day before, it was time to begin the rearing process. Half of the team stayed back to do this, while the rest of the team went back out into the field to collect more caterpillars. Each bag was given a unique number in order to organize them from the thousands of specimens that had already been collected. After being numbered every bag was then opened and every caterpillar and the host plant was identified in each bag. All of this was then logged into a computer database that documented the caterpillar, plant, and the location on the trail where the caterpillar was found. After this was done, we moved to the photography room to take pictures of the specimens, which was a very interesting process. Each caterpillar was photographed using a 500mm macro-lens (some of the caterpillars were very tiny) while poised behind a blurry green backdrop, as that is the method used for pictures intended for professional use (getting the caterpillars to hold still was tedious, but very fun). Only time can tell which ones have fallen victim to parasitism, and which ones continue on to the pupae stage of their development.
After a full days work we had dinner in the mess hall, and after that we were given a lecture from Dr. Dyer about climate change and the possible effects it has on parasitism rates in caterpillars.
