Ecology Lab 5: Completed Experimental Design

Data collected from a field experiment investigating edge effects on the relationship of insect abundance and vegetation density on two different days in a grassy lot at York University. 25 meters of transect tape was laid out beginning from the edge of the grassland towards the center of the field. The edge was deemed to be any area where the grassland seemed to end or taper off. Small holes were dug for the pitfall traps, which were placed 5 meters apart from each other along the transect line. Their position relative to the edge of the grassland was measured by the transect line and was recorded. A 1m by 1m quadrat was placed on each trap, with the trap in the center, and the vegetation density was calculated by estimating the number of individual grasses and plants. This process was repeated for a total of 4 different transects with 5 pitfall traps on each line, so a total of 20 pitfall traps were placed and subsequently examined after 1.5 hours to check for trapped insects.

本数据集源自一项野外实验，该实验于约克大学校园内的一块草坪中分两日开展，旨在探究边缘效应（edge effects）对昆虫丰度与植被密度之间关系的影响。实验人员从草地边缘向田野中心布设了总长25米的样带卷尺。本次研究将草地边缘定义为草地出现终止或逐渐收窄的区域。沿样带每隔5米挖掘小型孔洞以布设地面陷阱（pitfall traps），并通过样带卷尺测量各陷阱相对于草地边缘的位置并完成记录。在每个陷阱的正上方中央处放置1m×1m的样方（quadrat），通过计数样方内单个草本与植物个体的数量来计算植被密度。该实验流程共重复开展4次，每条样带设置5个地面陷阱，总计布设20个陷阱；所有陷阱均在放置1.5小时后回收，并对其中捕获的昆虫进行检查统计。