Protocols

Choice feeding trials where individual grasshoppers are offered leaves from different plant treatments to measure relative herbivory rates. Herbivory is quantified by measuring leaf area consumed usin...

Time-calibrated phylogenetic analysis using multiple genes and both maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches to estimate evolutionary relationships and timing of trait evolution.

Standardized measurement of PAR using quantum light sensors during midday cloudless conditions to quantify light environment across study sites.

Pre-treatment of bittercress plants with jasmonic acid to simulate herbivore-induced plant defenses, followed by controlled bacterial inoculation to test effects on bacterial growth.

Canopy cover measurement using densitometer to classify habitats as sun (5% shade), deep shade (95% shade), or ecotonal (5-95% shade) environments.

Systematic field survey of natural herbivore damage patterns across different leaf positions on host plants. Quantifies within-host foraging preferences in natural populations.

Seedlings were grown under different light quality treatments to measure phenotypic plasticity in response to shade cues, specifically changes in red to far-red light ratios that indicate neighboring ...

Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing followed by assembly using both FLYE and NECAT assemblers, with iterative polishing using Racon and Medaka, then merging assemblies using Quickmerge and HaploMerge...

Illumina GAIIx RNA sequencing of larval samples from different plant treatments followed by differential expression analysis to identify genes responsive to plant chemical defenses.