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Description
Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), the larval stage of yellow mealworm beetles, are a popular feeder insect for birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and even human populations throughout the world. As such, the goal of this work was to understand how the diet of mealworms impacts their nutritional quality as variations in quality can impact the animals (and humans) that consume them. In this study, 500 mealworms were divided among each of the following substrates designed to model food sources available in urban versus rural, more natural areas: 100% wheat germ (control); 100% Styrofoam; mixture of soil, grasses, and leaves from urban lawns; a mixture of soil, grasses and leaves from rural lawns; 50% mixture of wheat germ + carrots; natural fertilizer; or fertilizer with weed killer. The mealworms were maintained at room temperature and the diets were replaced bi-weekly to prevent spoilage and to remove mealworm waste. Once a week for three weeks, mealworms were sampled from each substrate and frozen at -20°C. After 3 weeks, mealworms housed in wheat germ + carrots weighed significantly more than all other groups (p<0.05), whereas those housed in Styrofoam or urban lawn substrates weighed significantly less at week 3 as compared to week 1 (p<0.01). The urban lawn substrate resulted in greater molting and contained the highest number of pupae, but also the greatest mortality among the substrates. The Bradford method measured the total protein content of mealworms homogenized in phosphate-buffered saline. Mealworms maintained on wheat germ had significantly greater total protein content as compared to mealworms transitioned to any other diet (p<0.05). So, compared to wheat germ, urban foods generally reduced protein, total sugars, and crude fat, although they also decreased oxidized lipoproteins. Urban lawn had lower oxidized lipoprotein content than wheat germ, but levels were higher compared to wheat germ with carrots and natural fertilizer. In addition, urban foods generally increase the water content in mealworms. Urban foods were not much different from rural lawns as no there was difference between urban and rural lawns. Differences in body mass and total protein support the hypothesis that mealworms' nutritional quality is altered by ingesting urban substrates. These data suggest that mealworms (and potentially other insects) in cities may be exposed to food substrates that result in less nutritional value than those living in more natural areas as mimicked by the rural lawn substrates and wheat germ control, although they may be higher in water content.
ContributorsLockett, Rory Earle (Author) / Sweazea, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Deviche, Pierre (Committee member) / Senko, Jesse (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
This dissertation examines the development of a singular ritual tradition—the “rites of summoning for interrogation” (kaozhao fa考召法)—from its earliest traces during the Han (2nd century CE) to its full-flowering as a ritual specialty by the end of the Tang (618–907) by drawing upon both esoteric Daoist texts as well as anecdotal materials from the period. Practitioners of this tradition, termed “Ritual Masters of Summoning for Interrogation” (kaozhao fashi), identified as constituents of a larger celestial surveillatory bureaucracy and drew upon its authority to cure disease, exorcize spirits, mend rifts in the community, and even determine marriage compatibility. They did so by utilizing a range of ritualistic practices drawn from the earlier Celestial Master (Zhengyi 正一) and Upper Purity (Shangqing 上清) traditions, such as visualizations, incantations, ritualized pacing, and the talismanic arts. Such practices became widespread in the Song dynasty (960–1279) and were broadly adapted by Daoist movements of the period such as the Orthodox Methods of the Celestial Heart (Tianxin zhengfa 天心正法. In Chapter 1, I trace the origins of kaozhao back to the Han, where they—along with similar exorcistic traditions—drew inspiration from the bureaucratic argot and juridical stylings of officialdom. In Chapter 2, I posit a timeline for the development of kaozhao through the examination of ritual registers and situate the practice in context of the ritual landscape of 8th century China. Chapter 3 details the construction of the kaozhao practitioner’s identity, lineage, and history in the pages of a Tang-era ritual manual, the Jinsuo liuzhu yin 金鎖流珠引. This text provides the earliest categorization of kaozhao—dividing it into a binary of “civil” (wen 文) and “martial” (wu 武) practices—the combination of which were required to attain a new form of communal transcendence called “raising the residence” (bazhai 拔宅). Finally, I demonstrate how the kaozhao rite of “patrolling” (xunyou 巡遊), located therein, recast practitioners as celestial equivalents of the itinerant surveillance commissioners of the Tang, broadening their mandate as ritual polymaths.
ContributorsWolf, Lucas A (Author) / Bokenkamp, Stephen R (Thesis advisor) / Ling, Xiaoqiao (Committee member) / Chen, Huaiyu (Committee member) / West, Stephen H (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024