Drafts

Photographing Leaf Miners

Methods

Location

    The location for this project was the University of Massachusetts’s Amherst campus. The specimen was found at the shade tree laboratory(?) located at 272 Stockbridge Road. I had walked the perimeter of the building and found leaf miner activity in a weed located 6 feet to the right of the front entrance of the laboratory which is on the left side of the building that contains the University Club.

Materials

    Three photographs of the infected plant were obtained in a simple manner.(Consider revision or deletion) The first photo showcases the entirety of the plant in the center of the photo and was taken at an angle from a five foot distance. The wall of the building was left in the top of the photo to aid in orientation and the next largest weed is centered on the right hand edge of the photo while the subject is in the center of the picture.

Yesterday in class we created a multipanel figure for leafminer activity. I am going to go about trying to outline the process I undertook to create my mulitpanel figure in preparation for my final draft. I am going to skip the part about collecting the photos for the speciman because that seems pretty straightforward to me thus far. 

Open "Inkplot" Don't worry about the size of the page in the center. Ignore it for now. We will adjust the size later. Go to file and import your pictures. You can zoom in by hitting the magnifying glass and zoom out by hitting the shift key and the magnifying glass. Hit lock icon. This prevents you from distorting the image when resizing it, I think. This is hard to do without the software or the lecture recorded. I should have taken notes or something. You can type in the size you want the images to be, if I remember correctly. Adjust the pictures to the sizes you want and arrange them. Okay, this isn't exactly MY process but this will help me to go over this again. Once you have the pictures arranged the way that you want them to be, you can go on to use the text tool. Use the font that looks neat and doesn't have serif. Label each photo. You can create the proper spacing by hitting the shift and arrow keys. Once everything is the way you want it, you can select all the elements of your multipanel figure and use group to make it one unit. 

Prior to constructing your multi panel figure it is a good idea to first install an image processing program. I chose to install Inkscape. Installation is pretty straight forward. You may need to go to your security settings and allow the software to be installed. Additionally, you will need to install Xquartz the operating system that runs Inkscape.  

            For my images I chose a garden nasturtium plant that I found at the northern edge of the permaculture garden on UMass campus. I took to images one showing the entire plant and one showing the leafminer activity. I used a one-dollar bill t placed directly behind the leaf for a scale reference.  After the pictures were taken, I emailed the pictures to myself so that I would be able to access them from any computer that has access to the internet.

            On the computer I created a folder to put the components of this figure into. I then retrieved the images from my email and downloaded them into my newly created folder. Next, I opened Inkscape and imported the images. Once the images were uploaded onto Inkscape I created a map of the area that I found the plant in. It is important that you use a map that you have the rights to when creating your multi panel figure. For this project I used open street map.

            Once all the images are on your sheet it would be a good idea to save this to your folder. Next you will need to place the images together in a logical manner. If the images are not the same size, you need to resize them. In order to not stretch or distort the image make sure that you lock the image by selecting the lock it the middle of the Inscape task bar. Next using the measuring tool fit your images together. Once you have completed this you can now add panel identifiers. First create a text box and put your first panel ID in it. I set the font to Ariel and used a 40 for size this fit well. Now once you make your first one selects it and then duplicate it two more times. Once you have finished that change them to the next sequential digits. The final step is to set the background to white by making everything 255.

4 photos were used in inkscape
The 3 photos taken were of shrt weed 1ft tall. Located at tree lab, go to left hand fence and walk 5 feet to the right. Weed is by garden hose.

All images came sized in squares of 1688.00, this size was kept

Three arrows were made and kept horizontally, they are 150 pixels long (top slider), using the third arrowhead listed and 3mm wide

All images are labeled by 100x100 black boxes with white sans serif letters at 80 size font

All boxes are in inner corners

All images are 15 pixels away from each other.

The map snapshot covers the shade tree lab in the middle left , clark and wilder hall fills the top left and bottom left completely, then stockbrige road is showcased along with the french hall on the right and the franklin garden.

Picture 1 - Top Left Corner - Picture showcasing largest gallery from miner. The hand holding the leaf is visible on the left side of the photo as the plant had to be slightly rotated to showcase the leaf from the same angle as the rest of the pictures. The thumb brushes away the top leaves while the base of the stem is held by the tip of the middle and index fingers and the rest of the fingers are curled back. The garden hose is coiled around the base of the plant and the leaf is showcased in the center of the photo. The base of the stem and the tip of the leaf take approximately 70% of the photo heightwise while being fairly centered left and right

Picture 2 - Top Right Corner - This photo is taken a few feet from the plant and was rotated to make the brick of the building visible along the top edge. Another smaller weed can be seen in the right hand side of the photo. 2 arrows are used to showcase the infected leaves and the tips were placed on the edges of the center of the leaves

Picture 3 - Bottom Left Corner - The photo was taken very close to the less infected leaf with the back of a business card used for scale. There is no writing the card is completely blank. And takes up roughly the center 3/5ths of the left hand edge. The plant wasnt manipulated and as such the two top leaves are in the photo as well. Theres a very small weed (approx 6 inches tall or so) that can be seen in the bottom right of the photo to help judge distance

Picture 4 - is of the map

Today in class I worked on finding different sources of multipanel figures. One hallmark of a multipanel figure is lettered pictures representing a single phenomenon or process. According to Dr. Long, a good mulitpanel figure will serve as a visual abstract for the prospectrive paper. It should tell the story of the point you are trying to make. A good multipanel figure should also be well organized and visually pleasing, ie. not jumbled or messy looking. When deciding how to create our own multipanel figure we should take many things into consideration. Will the prospective reader be able to print in color? Do they have any color blindness that could affect their perception of color? When we are using an object to show the scale, will the prospective reader have access to such an item? It is also pertinent to make sure any images that are used are properly cited or that you have permission to use the image. A simple scale is also helpful to print on the picture to help people get an appreciation for the size of the objects or process. 

The purpose of a well-constructed methods section will allow anyone to recreate your study and find the same results by following your methods.

When constructing a multi panel figure be sure that any images that are found on the internet are properly cited and given the proper attributions. Selecting creative commons images are the safest ones to use without having to purchase a license.

Create figure, number it, title the figure, describe the figure, then cite the image (if taken from the web)

Using the attribution maker is not easy. I will need to relearn the procedure.

Figures will give a graphic description of your research. Should be clean and understandable by you target audience.

Locating specimens of plants with evidence of leafminer activity requires a fair amount of observation.

Target plant species that have a higher occurrence of tracking from leafminers.

The largest concentration of leafminer activity was in the day lily flower bed located at the southern edge of the permaculture garden.

We did not find any evidence of leafminers in any of the trees within our observation area. This may be because it is difficult to see the tracks from the underside of a leaf. I do not believe it is because there are no insects of this type living within the trees.

Generally once you have located one set of tracks, there are many more nearby on the that plant of surrounding ones of the same species.  

I had come up with a few general hypotheses about leaf miners before seeking them out. The first was that leaf miners would target plants with larger leaves to ensure an ample food supply, and the second was that they would avoid any plant that produces oils such as Poison Ivy and Mint plants. By extension, I would of thought that if leaf miners did inhabit smaller leaves, that the leaf miners would then be smaller insects, and would leave smaller galleries.

Excursion 1: Umass Campus

While exploring the campus, I had examined many of the local plants for leaf miner activies. The only leaf showing any presence of leaf miners, was narrow, approximately 1" wide, but very long, approximately 1' - 2', and had long straight galleries present. No other plants seemed to be infected with leaf miners.

Excursion 2: My Backyard

My hypothesis has been disproven by evidence of leaf miners in one of my weeds. The leaves measure 3" in length, and 3/4" at their widest sections. The galleries appear primarily around the edges of the leaf. The longest galleries appear to be about 4" long, and nearly all of the space is a black or dark brown color. On the underside of a leaf is a very small white husk of insect, which is attached to the gallery

Description of leaf:
the leaf is an ellipse with serrated edges, measuring 126 mm from the tip of the leaf to the base of the unstraightened stem. The widest point, measured slightly diagonally across the center was 37mm.

Observation 1:
observed milky white colored streak on the sun facing side of the leaf of a local weed. The streak appears removable by aggressive rubbing with water. Black streaks are present in some of the infected areas. The streak appears erratic, and while most of the streak appears to follow along the veins of the leaf, some parts of the streak do cross over the veins while travelling up the leaf. The white streaks can be faintly seen through the underside of the leaf. The blackened areas are not visable through the leaf.

Observation 2:
Upon closer inspection, white streak was still present in scrubbed areas except where the leaf was heavily damaged by washing. This would suggest it is not a growth or residue leaft on the leaf, but is something underneath the surface. The track is nearly circular, however, has branches that indicate ends. Some sections are thicker,~1mm, and gradually slim down ~.2mm. The thicker areas are where the black streaks are more concentrated, and the thickest area has a small tan sliver similar in appearence to that of a dying leaf in the fall.

Leaf with trail along the right-side edge then crosses and descends along center vein. The trail appears to have removed the chlorophyll from the leaf. Inside the trail there are dark deposits/dots

Was this trail caused by something crawling along the leaf leaving a residue?

Another section of the leaf seems to have been consumed by another insect. I’m thinking that these are two different insects

The trail on the right side of the leaf appears to be deliberate, when it is at the top of the leaf it becomes more random like it is searching for something.

The leaf is 165mm long

The trail is approximately 235mm long.

The insect that caused this marking did not appear damage the leaf to the point of killing it, and it should still be capable of converting sun energy

Small black piece at the bottom of the water cup appears to be worm like in shape. Is this the creature that is responsible for this pattern within the leaf?

Plant type?

Collection

Type of plant

Location of plant

Leaf miners

-leaf observations
-The leaf is solid green darker green towards the top fading to a lighter green towards the stem.
-There is a white pool shaped border covering 2/3 of the leaf on the front but the inside is green only has a white rim.
-The back is solid dark to light green fade like the front but no white rim mark.
-The leaf has pointed out edges all around it until you get the stem with the main shape being an oval with a stuck out stem.
-The leaf is covered in what looks like a spray pattern of chemicals but only on the front.
-The back of the leaf is clean of chemical mist but has tiny hairs along the spine of the stem.
-Overall the leaf is smooth even the white border area.
-Part of the white border is turning black and a small piece near the stem has a slight reddish/brown tint that is consuming the plant material.
-The white rim is fused with the plant/ can't just be wiped off or removed without destroying the leaf.
-10 minutes after being picked leaf and the white mark is still pretty firm as a leaf can be and hasn't shriveled up to nothing.
-15 minutes in the back of the leaf is starting to seep through black where the black parts of the white rim were.
-15 cm long
-5 cm wide
-30 minutes in the stem is starting to rot and turn brown
-Weight is about .8 of a gram
-The leaf is only the tick mark of a ruler wide.
-Veins running out of the leaf are on average half a centimeter apart with none being more than a full centimeter apart.
-33 minutes in the middle right of the leaf has formed a small hole about 2/10 of the centimeter in diameter just from deteriorating.
-35 minutes in there are 5 new potential hole spots are forming around the first one