Methods

To capture my example of phytophagy, I began at the bus stop directly in front of the Integrated Learning Center (ILC) on the UMass campus. I began walking south down the sidewalk of North Pleasant St, and took a right turn down the path heading toward the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. I walked until I reached the path on the east side, or the side closer to North Pleasant Street, of the campus pond. I turned left onto this path and walked for a bit until I encountered the 3rd tree on the right that has 2011 plaque on the ground in front of it and a label on the trunk reading “Swamp White Oak”. This is the tree I chose. 

I stood on the far side of the tree, closer to the Fine Arts Center, and stood facing the tree and the ILC. Toward the bottom of the branched part of this tree is a bundle of leaves, but not the bundle closest to the ground. This bundle has leaves with little holes eaten out of them, an example of phytophagy, the eating of plants. I oriented my camera so that these holes could be clearly seen and took a picture. I also stepped back toward the Fine Arts Center and took another picture of the tree, in portrait landscape, so that the entire tree could be seen in the frame. I had a person stand beside the tree for size reference. I created a map, with an arrow pointing to the spot of phytophagy I found. After I had my three forms of media, I compiled them into a multipanel scientific figure.