Insects and other Arthropods

IanM · 2018-07-04 18:24:42

I have done posts in this subforum about such various farm animals as Cattle, Swine, and Chickens for mature colonies, but I think the very first animals used on Mars will be insects. Statistically speaking this would probably be true by random chance; The Catalogue of Life says that ~83% of all animal species are insects, and the other arthropods make up about half of the rest. Insects alone can produce silk, honey, shellac, and food for the colony, and other arthropods such as spiders and crustaceans could be used to make spider silk and food (and in the case of aquaculture, small crustaceans such as krill and copepods can be used to feed higher aquatic animals).

Entomophagy (eating insects) is taboo in the western world but ubiquitous in other cultures. Food insects are quite diverse, and I'll just focus on mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) for now.

Notably only the immature stage is eaten, and on Mars this would mean that the largest larvae in a given litter would be selected for breeding purposes and allowed to metamorphose into reproductive adults while the rest would be sprayed with hormones to discourage metamorphosis and keep the insects growing at the desired stage of development until the maximum size is reached.

I calculated these nutritional values from a variety of sources. The data for plants is adapted from my earlier post on crops here. For insects and farm animals alike the land area is based on the requisite plants to feed them, and the time is reckoned with respect to the time it takes from egg incubation/conception to desired state.

FAT:
Olives (best plant): 3947.4-9868.4 g/acre-day
California Avocados (good plant): 846.3 g/acre-day
Mealworm larvae: 154.4-722.8 g/acre-day
Potatoes (a probably-ubiquitous plant on Mars, and best for other stuff): 110.2-470.5 g/acre-day
Chicken: 51.5 g/acre-day
Beef: 1.7 g/acre-day

PROTEIN:
Potatoes (best plant): 2280-9730 g/acre-day
Mealworm larvae: 237.5-1112 g/acre-day
Chicken: 447.8 g/acre-day
Quinoa (typical plant): 188.7-436.8 g/acre-day
Beef: 5.0 g/acre-day

CARBOHYDRATES:
Potatoes (best plant): 18,583-79,318 g/acre-day
Quinoa (typical plant): 993.5-2300 g/acre-day
Mealworm larvae: 83.1-389.2 g/acre-day
Chicken and Beef: 0 g/acre-day

ENERGY:
Average Martian insolation and theoretical maximum: 590 W/m^2 = 50.7 million kcal/acre-sol
Potatoes (best plant): 84174-359274 kcal/acre-day
California Avocados (typical plant): 9148 kcal/acre-day
Mealworm larvae: 2647.9-13106.9 kcal/acre-day
Chicken: 2409.9 kcal/acre-day
Beef: 35.4 kcal/acre-day

Unsurprisingly, plants are by far the most efficient sources of carbohydrates and energy, but mealworm larvae are really good sources of protein and fat, having the dual benefits of tending to be more protein- and fat-dense than plants without requiring as much investment as the larger farm animals.

Oldfart1939 · 2018-07-05 13:59:54

Just want to point out that the figures you quote for food production are based on a natural forage program entirely absent in the mars ecology. So...what are you gonna feed those worms.

louis · 2018-07-05 17:05:42

I am sceptical about an insect-focussed approach to food on Mars. Insects have a huge downside in terms of disease, bites, food poisoning, and general nuisance. In a pressurised environment insect swarms could be lethal.

I think development of the Mars ecology should be slow and measured.

We should focus first on a vegetable/grain production and a vegetarian diet. The Mars colony should follow the lead of companies like Impossible, who produce v. meat-like burgers from vegetable products.

SpaceNut · 2018-07-05 17:10:44

I believe that Humming bird do pollenate some flowers and I have not heard of any issues with them

louis · 2018-07-05 18:19:28

All birds can carry diseases like psittacosis, potentially fatal to humans. Get that in a vent system and you could have a Mars version of the Medieval bubonic plague on your hands.

This is why I say you need a slow and measured approach.

Start with plants that have had any harmful to humans bred out of them, and have been grown in isolation.

Before you introduce any insects or animals you need to be sure they carry no pathogens harmful to humans. That will require a big effort.

SpaceNut wrote:

I believe that Humming bird do pollenate some flowers and I have not heard of any issues with them

IanM · 2018-07-05 18:38:41

Oldfart1939 wrote:

Just want to point out that the figures you quote for food production are based on a natural forage program entirely absent in the mars ecology. So...what are you gonna feed those worms.

I assumed that the mealworm larvae would be fed solely on wheat bran, although from what I read other grains could work.

louis wrote:

I am sceptical about an insect-focussed approach to food on Mars. Insects have a huge downside in terms of disease, bites, food poisoning, and general nuisance. In a pressurised environment insect swarms could be lethal.

I agree that many insects such as aphids, termites, mosquitoes, locusts, etc., are deleterious for people and human activities, and even many of the good ones such as bees and mealworms have their downsides. They, like all animals (and indeed heterotrophs such as fungi) consume food otherwise intended for human consumption, defecate, and bees can sting. However, with respect to animals in particular, insects are advantageous in that they are far more efficient than conventional livestock in providing food and other such products as silk and shellac and have lower start-up costs. Their main disadvantage is population control, which I guess could be solved by introducing insectivores such as spiders, using insecticides, or farming them in separate buildings from the main habs. I think it's beyond dispute that the early Martians will be vegetarian if not outright vegan, but I think that when/if animals are introduced the first ones should be insects.

For pathogens, I looked it up and saw that the lesser mealworm can transmit some infections but is a separate species from the one I analyzed. http://animals.mom.me/health-concerns-w … 97600.html says that mealworm larvae can transmit such diseases as E. coli, Staph, Flu, and Salmonella. While serious, those are all manageable and some of them have vaccines for the Martians. Having said of all of that, I noticed that mealworms have another problem in that they damage insulation. So I guess that particular species isn't quite the best. Oh well

SpaceNut wrote:

I believe that Humming bird do pollenate some flowers and I have not heard of any issues with them

According to http://pollinator.org/list-of-pollinated-food, birds are known only to pollinate bananas, papayas, and nutmeg, while bees can pollinate many types of fruits and alfalfa. Bats can pollinate Avocado, a potentially useful fat source for Martians. However, none of the plants on the list are crucial for a mission to Mars.

elderflower · 2018-07-06 02:47:58

Life support must include sanity support. We will need another living species that we can relate to. On earth this place is generally taken by dogs or cats, but chickens or ducks would do the job and still produce eggs and meat and deal with excess insects. Some kind of insect pollinators (maybe bees) will be essential for the mainly vegetarian diet. Human pollination is labour intensive and not so efficient, and unuseable in some plants.
We will also need aquatic animals to help clean up waste water streams. Mussels, shrimps and carp spring to mind and these are all edible, but a suite of small creatures such as hydroids, aquatic snails and rotifers are also required.
By dividing the agricultural areas into small zones, any population explosion of one species that the others cannot manage can be extinguished by venting the zone and allowing the temperature to drop to that of Mars' surface. I never heard of a plague of tardigrades.

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#1 2018-07-04 18:24:42

Insects and other Arthropods

#2 2018-07-05 13:59:54

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

#3 2018-07-05 17:05:42

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

#4 2018-07-05 17:10:44

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

#5 2018-07-05 18:19:28

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

#6 2018-07-05 18:38:41

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

#7 2018-07-06 02:47:58

Re: Insects and other Arthropods

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