Surveys of Naturally Occurring Leaf Rolls
To characterize the overall community of leaf-sheltering organisms at my
study site, I conducted surveys of naturally occurring leaf rolls at
Bird Hills from August 23rd-27th,
2022. Surveys were conducted along five 50m linear transects that
overlapped with areas previously used for the predation experiment. I
pre-established each transect on a digital map of the study site, and
used GPS points from the map to start and end the physical transects
on-site. I surveyed all plants of a specific height range (over 0.5m and
under 2m tall) within one meter of the transect for rolled or folded
leaf structures; plants were marked as having either 0, 1, 2, or
>3 leaf rolls. Leaf rolls varied in structure but were
counted in the survey as long as they were (a) at least partially
enclosed, and (b) clearly constructed by an animal. Leaves that were
curled due to desiccation or disease were not considered leaf rolls, as
I was most interested in the contents of intentionally constructed rolls
that resembled structures made by P. troilus larvae.
I recorded the contents of up to 3 leaf rolls per plant by carefully
opening each structure by hand. Organisms were visually identified to
broad taxonomic groups (e.g., spiders, springtails, beetles). Rolls with
either non-living debris or nothing inside were recorded as “empty.”
As some organisms immediately jumped or dropped out of the rolls, I also
recorded the escape behavior of all observed organisms: jumping,
dropping, or no response. In total, I surveyed 464 leaf rolls across 457
individual plants. Of these plants, ~10% were also host
plants of P. troilus, including spicebush (Lindera
benzoin), sassafras, and tulip tree.