Measurement methods
One day prior to transplantation, fragments were tagged with a unique
number and attached to a U-shaped peg. Morphological traits for each
fragment were measured and included: 1) length of the longest apical
leaf, width and number of leaves 2) total number of bite marks on leaves
of three vertical shoots per fragment, 3) number of vertical shoots, 4)
leaf count of three vertical shoots per fragment and 5) overall
horizontal rhizome length. A subset (n=10) of fragments per treatment
were marked prior transplantation to measure shoot growth. To do this,
all shoots within a single fragment were pierced using a hypodermic
needle. Two holes were pierced side-by-side at the base of the leaf/top
of the meristem.