Collecting Data

Why do you think we collect all this information about plants if we are studying caterpillars and climate change?

Today, Rebecca Hazen, pHd student and lead scientist on this project further described the purpose of gathering leaf estimates. Leaf estimates are gathered at each plot by estimating the number of leaves per individual of each species present in the plot along with percent herbivory on those leaves. Leaf estimates are used in correlation with a database containing average surface area per leaf species in order to asses caterpillar plant interactions within this tritrophic study.