Virtual Research Seminar Series

Next Seminar - January 20 - 4pm GMT

Dietary preferences and impacts of feeding on behavior, longevity, and reproduction in adult black solider flies

The black soldier fly (BSF; Hermetia illucens; Diptera: Stratiomyidae) is a novel mini-livestock species now reared in the trillions annually around the globe. As BSF farming continues to grow, research on how to protect these animals’ welfare in farmed settings is also essential. Currently, industry standard practice involves not feeding BSF adults and providing only water due to a misconception that BSF adults cannot eat. However, BSF adults have functional mouthparts and digestive systems, gravitate towards and consume food when it is provided, and live longer when provided with food. Therefore, current industry practices, where only water is provided, do not keep BSF adults free from hunger. In order to address this welfare concern, we studied the carbohydrate and protein preferences of BSF adults as well as their preferred protein to carbohydrate ratio and overall carbohydrate concentration. We assessed three carbohydrates (honey, white sugar, and molasses) and three proteins (yeast, agar, and casein). Using the maximally preferred diet (1:8 ratio of yeast to molasses, with molasses concentration set to 5%), we assessed BSF adult mating behaviour, egg mass, and sex-specific longevity on the diet vs in the water-only conditions that are currently standard in the industry. We found that BSF were observed to mate more frequently, laid more eggs on days 2-5 post-eclosion, and lived 4-6 days longer when given access to their preferred diet. Our data suggest that feeding adult BSF their preferred diet could improve animal welfare (by keeping the animals free from hunger and allowing for natural feeding-related behaviors) while also improving the number of eggs laid per day.

Edward Waddell | Assistant Professor, Biology | Holy Family University

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Past Seminars on our YouTube

November 2025 - “Positive and negative affective states, motivational trade-offs, and consequences of tagging in a cockroach” (David Fisher; Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences; University of Aberdeen)

September 2025 - “Blood Money: The history of horseshoe crabs in science and medicine” (Kristoffer Whitney; Associate Professor, Department of Science, Technology, and Society; Rochester Institute of Technology)

August 2025 - “How Can We Measure Sentience in an Insect?” (Matilda Gibbons; University of Pennsylvania, Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine)

June 2025 - “When and Why Are Motivational Trade-Offs Evidence of Sentience?” (Simon Brown, Research Officer, London School of Economics, UK)

May 2025 - “Investigations on the possibility of pain in crustaceans and changes in how these animals are used” (Emeritus Professor Bob Elwood; Queen’s University, Belfast, UK)

April 2025 - “The 3Rs Principles in Invertebrate Research” (Dr. Miriam A Zemanova; University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

October 2024 - “Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research” (Craig Perl, PhD; Insect Welfare Research Society, USA)

August 2024 - “The Sphex story: How humans kept repeating themselves” (Fred Keijzer, PhD; University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

June 2024 - “How honeybees think” (Andrew Barron, PhD; Macquarie University, AU)

April 2024 - “The moral status of insects” (Jeff Sebo, PhD; New York University, USA)

March 2024 - “The needs and means of using non-lethal methods in entomological research” (Gabor Lövei, PhD; Aarhus University & University of Debrecen & Marco Ferrante, PhD; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)

February 2024 - “Evaluating electrical stunning as a humane slaughter method for decapod crustaceans: Lessons learned when assessing sensitivity” (Amaya Albalat, PhD; University of Stirling, UK) - view slides here

December 2023 - “How the cricket feels and what the mealworm has to say: The influence of rearing environments on insect welfare in different food and feed production systems” (Alexander Haverkamp, PhD; Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

October 2023 - “Insect Sentience” (Lars Chittka, PhD; Queen Mary University of London, UK) - view recording of comparable talk at UFAW, here

August 2023 - “How Can We Know What is Good for Insects?” (Heather Browning, PhD; Southhampton University, UK)

June 2023 - “Insect welfare: Solid foundations for an emerging field” (Meghan Barrett, PhD; California State University Dominguez Hills, USA)

Upcoming Seminars

TBD: stay tuned for more on our future seminars!