All living things will find ways to cheat and deceive to give themselves a leg up in life -- and I want to know why, and how this works. Take Cryptostylis orchids for example (the focus of my PhD!). Mostly by mimicking the sex pheromones of The Orchid Dupe wasp (Lissopimpla excelsa, both are pictured above) these orchids pose as females and trick males into mating with them and wasting their sperm.
Sperm could be a cost to these wasps, my PhD looks at whether it is; and how this costly relationship could be maintained. I try to explain it all below! You can also hear me talk more about it (plus added information on me and my non-science interests and thoughts!) on the In Situ Science podcast.
