Bees Attraction to Flower Colour

The experiment was conducted over a 2 day span by ecology students at York University. The first day the data was collected was on Wednesday October 14th, 2015 for 1.5 hours at approximately 2:45-4:15pm. The temperature was 10 degrees celcius and cloudy with limited sun exposure. The second day the data was collected the following week on Wednesday October 21, 2015 for the same duration (1.5 hrs) at approximately 2:50-4:20pm. The temperature was 9 degrees celcius and cloudy and slightly windy with no sun. The experiment took place in the grassland along Pond road of York University Campus. The grassland was divided into three areas: the edge, the midde and the pond. The edge represented the area towards the mowed grass. The pond represented the area closer towards the pond. The middle represented the area between the edge and the pond. On day one, 4 red pans, 4 yellow pans and 4 white pans were randomly distributed in the edge of the grassland. 4 red pans, 4 yellow pans and 4 white pans were randomly distributed in the middle of the grassland. 4 red pans, 4 yellow pans and 4 white pans were randomly distributed close to the pond of the grassland. Each pan were at least 1 meter apart from each other within each grassland. The different insect species observed within each pan was recorded and the number of each type of species recorded in each pan was counted. The same procedure was repeated for day two. A total of 72 pans were used in the entire experiment. There were equal number of pans of each colour (24 red, 24 yellow and 24 white) and they were equallly distrubuted to each grassland location.

本实验由约克大学（York University）生态学专业学生于两天内完成。首日数据采集工作于2015年10月14日周三开展，时长1.5小时，大致为当日14:45至16:15。当日气温10摄氏度，天气多云，日照时长有限。次日数据采集于一周后的2015年10月21日周三进行，时长同样为1.5小时，大致为当日14:50至16:20。当日气温9摄氏度，天气多云且伴有小幅阵风，无日照。实验场地设于约克大学校园庞德路（Pond Road）旁的草原地带。该草原被划分为三个区域：边缘区、中间区与池塘近区。其中边缘区指毗邻修剪草坪的区域，池塘近区指临近校园池塘的区域，中间区则介于边缘区与池塘近区之间。实验首日，4个红色诱虫盘、4个黄色诱虫盘与4个白色诱虫盘被随机布设至草原边缘区；同等数量的三色诱虫盘被随机布设至草原中间区；另有4红、4黄、4白的诱虫盘被随机布设至靠近池塘的草原区域。各区域内的诱虫盘之间相互间距至少为1米。研究人员记录了每个诱虫盘内观测到的昆虫物种种类，并统计了各物种在对应诱虫盘中的个体数量。次日实验完全重复了上述流程。本次全实验共计使用72个诱虫盘，每种颜色的诱虫盘数量均等（红、黄、白各24个），且均被均匀分配至三个草原采样区域中。