The Abundance of Invertebrates at Different Grass Heights

The experiment was conducted from 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm on Tuesday October 13th 2015 with a temperature around 17°C with strong wind and occasional showers and on Tuesday October 20th 2015 with a temperature around 17°C with cloudy skies and light rain showers. The experiment was done together with Rachel Titus, Laiba Khan and Maleeha Maleeha. The experiment happened around the grassland area near Stong Pond at York University. We used 18 pan traps (6 of each colour: blue, white and yellow) in 3 different heights of grass locations: tall unmowed grass, short mowed grass and grass patches around the parking lot area. In the pattern blue, white and yellow approximately one metre apart from each other in all 3 locations. Each pan trap was filled with soapy water enough to cover the bottom of the pan trap. We checked the pan traps around 30 minutes after the pan traps were placed. Counting the amount of invertebrates found and identified what species they were in each pan trap for all three locations. In this experiment it allowed us to study if the number of invertebrates found in different locations would vary based on the height of grass.

本实验于2015年10月13日周二14:30至16:30开展，当日气温约17℃，伴有强风及零星阵雨；实验亦于2015年10月20日周二同期进行，当日气温同样约17℃，天空多云且伴随小雨。本实验由Rachel Titus、Laiba Khan与Maleeha Maleeha共同完成，实验地点位于约克大学（York University）内斯汤池塘（Stong Pond）附近的草原区域。本次实验共设置18个捕虫盘（pan traps），其中蓝、白、黄三色各6个，分别布置于3类不同草高的生境：高草未修剪区、矮草修剪区以及停车场周边草地区块。在每类生境中，蓝、白、黄三色捕虫盘按彼此间距约1米的规则排布。每个捕虫盘内注入足量肥皂水，以没过盘底。捕虫盘放置约30分钟后进行巡查，统计各捕虫盘中采集到的无脊椎动物数量，并鉴定其所属物种。本实验旨在探究不同草高生境中的无脊椎动物种群数量是否存在差异。