This research study was carried out by scientists in Finland. The illustration of how clay or pastry models can be used to study processes such as predation (Predation is the preying of one animal on others). Researchers experiments were based off using fake bugs in order to figure out how often bugs are getting eaten. The fake model is made out of clay and molded into a similar shape of a caterpillar, where they are placed on leaves and is positioned as if it’s about to launch forward.
For the first study it took place five years by ecologist Tomas Roslin, he was studying arctic insects in northern Greenland. However he was struggling with his experiment due to the few predators that lived in that latitude. To contrast this study, ecologist Eleanor Slade informed Roslin of her great success in the southern island of Borneo. Both researchers observations gave a general sense of the predation pressure on insects in a certain area. Struck by the differences between his and Slade’s observations, Roslin set out to count these predation trends by running experiments on a global scale. Slade hoped to create a framework for other researchers to measure the relationships between predators and their prey more generally. He also hopes that the framework would help ecologists estimate how climate change and habitat destruction could impact the patterns differently in different areas.
After Roslin contacted an informal network of nearly 40 other insect researchers, based in locations ranging from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama to outposts in Africa, Alaska, Australia and Europe. The team set out nearly 3,000 fake caterpillars for 4 to 18 days to let them get bitten by birds and invertebrates, and then collected them again to measure how chewed they were. As a result from this they were able to collect more information quicker.
The researchers found that the odds of a dummy caterpillar being bitten increased by 2.7 percent for every degree of latitude one moved closer to the equator, and 6.6 percent for every 100 meters one moved closer to sea level. At the highest latitudes caterpillars were 13 percent as likely to be eaten as those at the equator, while at the high altitudes, they were just 24 percent as likely to be eaten as those at sea level.
In this article it was very fascinating as to how quick and accurately the data collected was. Based off the experiments it seemed manageable however the collecting of data seemed like it would be difficult. I think the experiments are capable of doing the only difference is having access to others that would enjoy conducting the experiment. It would make the experiment difficult because there will be limitations to collecting the data. For example different climates, certain bugs live in certain areas and so forth.
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