Frequency of Insects in Grassland & Woodlot of York University

Method: On September 30, 2014, at 2:30pm our Ecology lab group, led by our teacher assistant Taylor Noble, split up into 3 groups. After walking to the grassland and woodlot area of York University – Keele Campus, each group was responsible for collecting 4 datasets. The grassland and woodlots were in decent condition despite the rain before our laboratory time, and it was still possible to observe and identify insects. Our group members were Jason, Coleen, Leeron, Zainab and Sanaz. The following dataset is for the first dataset collected. In this dataset, instead of pit fall traps, 1m by 1m quadrants were used. Ten separate quadrants were randomly placed throughout the grassland, and then throughout the woodlot. To count the number of insects in a quadrant, the entire quadrant was observed. If an insect group (i.e ants) was seen throughout the entire quadrant, the frequency of ants in ¼ of the quadrant was recorded and then multiplied by 4 to get the number of ants in the entire quadrant. For other insect groups (i.e. snails, spiders, etc.) the entire quadrant was observed and the frequency for each insect group was recorded. Later, we would be able to identify how many different insect groups there were, and how many insects in total were in each quadrant. Overall, 20 quadrants were randomly placed, 10 in the Grassland and 10 in the Woodlot and the above-mentioned procedure was done for each quadrant.

研究方法：2014年9月30日下午2时30分，本生态学实验小组在助教泰勒·诺布尔（Taylor Noble）的带领下分为3组。在步行抵达约克大学基尔校区（York University – Keele Campus）的草原与林地区域后，每组负责采集4份数据集。尽管实验前曾降雨，但草原与林地的观测条件仍较为适宜，可开展昆虫观测与物种识别工作。本组组员为杰森、科琳、利隆、扎伊纳布与萨纳兹。以下为本次采集的第一份数据集的相关说明：本次采样未使用陷阱诱捕器（pit fall traps），而是采用1米×1米样方（quadrant）。首先在草原区域随机布设10个独立样方，随后于林地区域重复该布设流程。针对单个样方内的昆虫数量统计规则如下：若某类昆虫（如蚂蚁）遍布整个样方，则记录该样方1/4区域内的该类昆虫个体数量，再乘以4以推算整个样方内的总个体数；对于其他昆虫类群（如蜗牛、蜘蛛等），则直接观测整个样方并记录各类群的个体数量。后续可据此统计每个样方内的昆虫类群总数及总个体数。本次实验共随机布设20个样方，草原与林地区域各10个，且对每个样方均执行上述采样与统计流程。