Women in Science

Two of cesar’s sustainable agriculture consultants were delighted to attend the first ‘Women in Science’ conference for years 10-12 students of the City of Yarra, run by the Merri Creek Management Committee and hosted by Melbourne Girls College.

Siobhan and Alana were invited to run a workshop that gave some insight into their career roles as agricultural entomologists. As part of the workshop students were asked to identify different agricultural insects using a taxonomic key, and as a reward they were given the opportunity to hold a spiny leaf insect.

In an impeccably timed display of natural biological control, one of the live caterpillars that a student was identifying under a microscope erupted with larvae of a parasitoid, which unbeknownst to us had laid its eggs inside the caterpillar some days earlier!

Thank you to the Merri Creek Management Committee for having us there!