A citizen science project to investigate fig wasp ecology.
This hands-on science experience gives Queensland primary and secondary school students the opportunity to contribute to vital research on these important insects.
All schools are invited to participate, with support provided to help students achieve success. All you need is:
- access to any species of fig trees
- a phone/camera to record the location and identifying features of your fig trees on iNaturalist
- plastic zip lock bags.
Participation is free of charge.
Upon registration, schools will receive:
- collection vials, pre-filled with preservative
- pre-paid return envelope to submit the samples collected to UQ for analysis
- access to microscopic-aided photographs of their wasps and genetic barcode data from the submissions tested.
Why the fig wasp?
Fig trees are prominent in our natural environments. They are a resource for countless organisms, from birds that feed and disperse their fruits, epiphytic plants, marsupials that take refuge in their crevices, thousands of invertebrates, and fungi and bacteria that are sustained by their roots.
Native Australian fig trees need tiny (~2 mm) fig wasps for successful pollination, and the wasps rely on the fig trees to complete their lifecycle. This relationship has evolved to the point where the tree and the wasp are completely dependent on each other.
These fig wasps are a keystone species in subtropical Australia. Without them, whole ecosystems we love and the species that rely on them are at threat.
Unfortunately, we still don’t even know how many species of pollinating and non-pollinating fig wasps there are, and how these relationships evolve and adapt to stresses such as climate change.
Proudly supported by the Queensland Government—Engaging Science Grants.
Nominate a representative (e.g. teacher, club leader) to lead the project, and register your school to receive your collection vials and prepaid return mailer.
Methodology
- Explore your local area (either on or off school grounds) to find fig trees to monitor for the presence of ripening fruit.
- Add the location of the fig trees to the Emerging Fig-ures project on iNaturalist.
Note: This provides a geolocation of each tree, and allows the citizen science community to identify the fig as much as possible from submitted photos.
- When possible and safe to do so, students should collect ripening fruit (a fig that's changed from green to a yellowish colour) and place it in a small plastic zip lock bag.
Note: Be sure to collect fruit that doesn’t already have holes in it. These holes are made by the male fig wasps and allow the female wasps — who can fly — to escape the fig and pollinate the next one. So, if the figs have holes they are unlikely to contain the wasps.
- After a few days, you should see tiny (~2 mm) wasps in the bag; place the bag in the refrigerator overnight to slow the wasps’ movements.
- Gently place the wasps and a sample of the fig into the preservative-filled vials provided and send them to us in the prepaid return mailer.
We will photograph the wasps using a microscope to aid morphological identification, and both the figs and wasps will undergo genetic sequencing to further aid in identification and mapping of relationships.
Participating schools will receive results from their samples to help students understand how these technologies are used to help scientists investigate ecological and evolutionary relationships.
Artwork by Benson Avea.
iNaturalist
We recommend that a teacher or Head of Department sets up a school-based iNaturalist account that can be used to lodge observations on behalf of participating students (this eliminates the need for students to create personal accounts):
Once you create an account, join the project:
Join Emerging Fig-ures on iNaturalist
If you need help, see:
- how to sign up for an iNaturalist account
- how to join an iNaturalist project
- how to make an observation on iNaturalist
- the iNaturalist Educators Guide
About figs
Have you ever questioned why you’ve never seen flowers on a fig tree?
This PDF contains information on this unique plant: What's inside a fig? (PDF, 148.9 KB)
Identifying fig trees
This PDF is a book chapter — taken from Peter Krisch's Rainforests of Australia's East Coast (2019) — with details of more than a dozen types of fig trees found in Queensland.
Download: Fig identification chapter (PDF, 1.6 MB)
Uploaded to this website with permission from the author.
Fig wasp lifecycles
This PDF contains information on fig wasp lifecycles: Fig wasp lifecycle (PDF, 1.4 MB)
A video excerpt about fig wasps — from the David Attenborough series A Perfect Planet [S01 E02 "The Sun"] — is available on ClickView (Education Queensland account access required).
The Search For Splendid
The Search For Splendid is a children’s-book-style story that follows Aria the fig-wasp on her journey to find a new home.
Written and illustrated by entomologist Lia Herrera Grau, the story was awarded second place in the Royal Entomological Society 2025 Student Science Communication Awards.
Download: The Search For Splendid (PDF, 3.1 MB)
View more of Lia's work on Instagram: @amcattos
Join the project
Register your school to allow your students to participate in a citizen science project to help fig-ure out wasp relationships.
Contact
Get in touch to learn more.