Visiting undergraduate student researcher Zann Teo Jiexin from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, on her Honours thesis placement with the Sumner Lab

Hello, I am Zann Teo Jiexin, a visiting undergraduate student researcher from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, majoring in Environmental Earth Systems Science. I was in the Sumner Lab from July to December 2022 to work on my Honours thesis titled “Population differentiation of Ammophila wasps using wing morphology” under the supervision of Dr Cintia Akemi Oi. My project is also co-supervised by Dr Seirian Sumner and Dr Eleanor Slade (NTU Singapore).

During my project, I sampled Ammophila wasps from different parts of the UK, and also had the amazing opportunity to visit the London Natural History Museum and make use of their specimen collections as well for my data set to investigate spatial and temporal changes in wing morphology. Using software such as tpsdig2 and MorphoJ, I carried out geometric morphometric comparisons to investigate differences between two species of Ammophila wasps, sexual size dimorphism, population differences, and differences over time.

Although I was in the Sumner lab for only 6 months, I greatly enjoyed my time here – it’s certainly a lab of welcoming and friendly folks, with varied interests and a wide range of knowledge. 😊 I have learnt a lot from the researchers at the Sumner Lab and Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research at UCL!