Research Question: What is the ecological efficiency of leaf miners?
Preparation: A leaf with evident leaf miner tunnels were collected, and the tubes were examined. Data was then evaluated to find length and width of tunnels. The length of the tunnel made by the leaf miner on the leaf collected was 63 mm. The width of the tunnel was measured at 1 mm. The leaf miner itself was 0.5 mm by 1 mm. The final point of the tunnel was 1.5 mm wide. Because of basic triangular properties, the approximate area of the tunnel was found to be 47.25 mm2. To find the ecological efficiency ratio, the area of eaten food was multiplied by the area of the miner, 0.5 mm. This gives an efficiency ratio of 1: 94.5.
Evaluations: Based on the concept of ecological efficiency, a trophic pyramid for leaves and leaf miners would look like so:
In order to calculate ecological efficiency on the kcal of energy of the insect vs. the leaf tissue versus the amount of tissue consumed vs. the size of the miner, both the insect and the leaf tissue would need to be burned in a calorimeter to measure the energy released.
Ecological efficiency of the leaf miners would be higher than a leaf eating beetle flying from plant to plant eating, because the leaf miner is burning less energy by moving less, and consuming more per body weight in the same amount of time.
The leaf miner can be categorized as both a herbivore and a parasite, because while the insect does eat leafs to sustain it’s life, it lives in and detrimentally feasts on the plant while growing into a mature larvae.
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