Protocols

Comprehensive measurement of forewing length, wing melanism, and setal length from pinned butterfly specimens using digital micrometry, photography, and microscopy. Wing melanism quantified using stan...

Daily monitoring of individual female butterflies including artificial feeding with sucrose solution and daily egg collection. Measures lifetime reproductive output and adult lifespan under controlled...

Plant biomass consumption by herbivores is quantified using before-and-after digital photographs with standardized reference objects. Image analysis software calculates the difference in plant materia...

Photography of butterfly landing sites using polarizing lens to measure landscape contrast between landing spots and surrounding areas. Photos analyzed using ImageJ to calculate gray scale contrast va...

CO2 emission measurement using flow-through respirometry to quantify resting metabolic rate and flight metabolic capacity in individual butterflies. Includes forced flight trials with chamber agitatio...