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Central Luzon State University ENGR 310 Jamora

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Jamora, Cyril D. BSES-2B ENERGY FLOW ESTIMATION PLANT TO HERBIVORE I. Introduction The flow of energy through life is not an endless cycle. The energy doesn't go round and round getting used over and over again and never wearing out. Its passage through the food chain can better be described as in and out. As energy moves up the food chain there is less and less of it to go around. That's the main reason there aren't very many big fierce predators compared to the herbivores. Not enough energy for them. Most of the solar energy that falls on the earth is not used by plants. It bounces back to space or heats the air, oceans, and ground, and makes weather, among other things. The plants only get a little bit of the solar energy that hits the earth. The herbivores only get a little bit of the energy that hits the plants. The energy stored by green plants during photosynthesis, a large part is being utilized by the plant itself for respiration and maintenance. The small part that left is called the net primary production. It accumulates in time as biomass and becomes available to next trophic level occupied by the herbivores. Estimating the percentage of leaf that has been eaten, can approximate how much the plant food (chemical energy) produced during photosynthesis passes into the herbivore level. The amount of food energy absorbed at the herbivore level is called secondary production II. Objective To learn and appreciate one method of estimating the amount of plant food energy being transferred to the next trophic level occupied by the herbivores. III. Procedure 1. We choose study area and select a particular species of shrub or tree such as alibangbang (Bauhinia purpurea). 2. We collect fifteen (15) attached and fifteen (15) fallen leaves which show signs of animal consumption or hebrbivory. 3. And we try to identify the type of herbivores such as selective or non-selective, marginal or interveinal. 4. We place the leaf on graphing paper individually and trace the outline of each leaf and part of consumed. Total production will be the total area on graphing paper covered by the outline. 5. We calculate the percent herbivory by multiplying the ratio of the eaten portion to the original leaf area by 100%.

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