Swat or Not? Identifying Insects in Virtual Reality

昆虫鉴定是困难的。这对我们很重要，因为我们需要识别昆虫，以便追踪重要物种（如传粉媒介或害虫）的丰度和分布变化。这对其他动物也很重要。例如，喜欢昆虫的鸟类会把无害的、美味的猎物（如食蚜蝇）与有毒的、防御性的物种（如黄蜂或蜜蜂）混为一谈。这就是为什么自然选择倾向于贝叶斯模仿者的进化——这些物种通过假装成自己不是的东西来避免被捕食。在这个项目中，我们的目标是通过开发一个沉浸式虚拟现实（VR）游戏来更好地理解物种识别问题，在这个游戏中，公众可以遇到黄蜂和蜜蜂，以及它们的食蚜蝇模仿物，而不必担心被蜇。通过玩这个游戏，志愿者将学习如何识别重要的昆虫物种，并帮助我们探索模仿进化的想法。我们将使用真实昆虫的高分辨率3D图像和尖端的VR技术来构建两个应用程序，一个用于训练物种识别，另一个用于模拟研究。我们将在当地的科学节上向学童和公众展示这款培训应用程序，并在大学生的实地课程中对其进行测试。我们将在一个简单的实验中试用研究应用程序，旨在测试视角如何影响志愿者区分黄蜂和食蚜蝇的能力。通过使用沉浸式和有趣的方法，我们希望吸引那些可能对昆虫持负面态度的观众。我们的长期目标是让公民参与昆虫学，并帮助他们获得昆虫识别技能，以提供有意义的数据，这些数据可用于科学研究，以了解气候变化和其他人类活动对生物多样性的影响。

Insect identification is difficult. This matters to us, because we need to identify insects in order to track changes in the abundance and distribution of important species, such as pollinators or pests. It also matters to other animals. For example, insect-loving birds can confuse harmless and palatable prey, such as hoverflies, with noxious or defended species, such as wasps or bees. This is why natural selection favours the evolution of Batesian mimics - species which seek to avoid predation by pretending to be something that they are not. In this project, we aim to understand the problem of species identification better by developing an immersive virtual reality (VR) game in which members of the public can encounter wasps and bees, and their hoverfly mimics, without fear of being stung. By playing the game, volunteers will learn how to identify important insect species, and help us to explore ideas about the evolution of mimicry.We will use high-resolution 3D images of real insects and cutting-edge VR technology to build two apps, one for training in species identification, and the other for use in research about mimicry. We will demonstrate the training app to school children and members of the public at a local science festival, and test it with university students on a field course. We will pilot the research app in a simple experiment designed to test how viewing angle can affect the ability of volunteers to distinguish between wasps and hoverflies. By using an immersive and playful approach, we hope to captivate an audience who might otherwise feel negatively towards insects. Our long-term goal is to engage citizens in entomology, and help them gain the insect identification skills they require to contribute meaningful data which can be used in scientific research seeking to understand the impacts of climate change and other human activities on biodiversity.