Methods Project - Introduction

In Fall 2019, I conducted a research project in my Junior Year Writing class to seek evidence of phytophagy, i.e., eating of plants, on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. As a word with such a broad definition, it included examples as supporting evidence such as leaf miners, slime molds, part of a leaf eaten by an insect or animal etc. The proof I had picked for this paper was a on a plant that had a single leaf with brown patches. Brown discoloration often indicates fungal or bacterial attack, allowing them to grow on the leaf. This essentially means that they are obtaining their nutrients from the leaf. The plant was also picked due to the easier accessibility. It was situated in the Durfee Conservatory on campus and so it was difficult for any external factors such as strong winds or rain to destroy the evidence. One of the factors to control was the timing of the day. The Conservatory could only be accessed between 9AM and 4PM. The other factors were that the map used for the multi-panel figure had to be captured through Google Maps and the figures were created through Microsoft Word.