I am planning some leaf collecting in Malaysia, to assess latitudinal differences in herbivory damage (compared to paratropical forest in southern China). It would be relevant to make some estimates of evergreen leaf lifetime in the localities and I am wondering how best to do it. Obviously, I need to census leaves on particular branches, coming back to them every few months (or rather my research assistants out there doing this, as it is a very long way to travel). The easiest way to do this seems to be to put a little number in permanent marker on the leaf, and a red tie around the bottom of the branch to make it easy to spot. I have been trying this on the glasshouse plants here at Rutgers and they seem to do fine with it). But would any reviewer accept that these marked leaves might have a 'normal' lifetime, generally unaffected by the numbering? Can you suggest another, better way to census evergreen tree leaves?
I'd also like to assess accumulation of herbivory damage on the leaves over time, but I suppose that seeing a little black number on leaves might put a lot of insects off ovipositing near the leaves. But maybe it is still worth doing anyhow? I'd be interested to know what people think. Jonathan
