Starting New Trial

Using the same 80 snails as in the previous trial where 'Monterey' Btk showed zero effect. Snails are randomized. This time using Dipel again - the same strain that previously showed a strong effect on egg-laying (albeit with small numbers in the control, attributable to the now-known reproductive depression connected with a snail-gel-only diet). This time using a different formulation, from the same manufacturer - a powder that is 54% Btk solids (compared to 0.064% in the stuff used before). Testing 1, 10, and 100 ppm Btk again. This time, to promote egg-laying, the snails will get lettuce every other day to go with their chow. Chow and water will be changed when lettuce is given, and egg masses will be counted at those time points too. Let's see what happens!

If this Btk does nothing to snails, it's good news for the reputation of Bt as an environmentally benign insecticide! The dose they're getting is many times the lethal dose for caterpillars, you may recall. Maybe this trial will get us to a 'publon' - that is the minimal unit of science publishable in a peer-reviewed journal.

And then we move to another idea: what other kind of palatable poison might inhibit reproduction without disrupting behavior? (So the snails keep happily eating it, and unwittingly go sterile.) It has to be very cheap, and not water-soluble. I have a real good candidate in mind...