Lab 4 - Experimental Design - The Abundance of Insects can be affected by the Condition and Size of Maple Trees

This experiment consisted of collecting data for two different days, one week apart. The first day was October 13, 2015 from, 2:57pm to 5:05pm and the weather consisted of 15°C with cloudy skies. The second day was October 20, 2015 from, 2:47pm to 4:53pm and the weather for this day consisted of 17°C with cloudy skies followed with a light drizzle of rain. The experiment took place at Danby Woods, York University in the woodlot area to test if the condition and size of a Maple tree can affect the abundance of insects in close proximity to the tree. Daniel, Markian, Bonnie, and Muhammad performed both days of the experiment. The woodlot terrain during the experiment consisted of yellow and orange leaves scattered everywhere around the ground with berries present. Few leaves were still present on the trees. During the two days of the experiment there were a total of 100 replicates noted. For each replicate a random Maple tree was selected. Once selected, the diameter of the tree was measured; ten inches or lower was considered as a small tree and anything above ten inches was considered to be a large tree. The condition of the tree was also noted, if the tree was uprooted and decomposing it was said to be dead, if it was still attached to the ground and had leaves present then it was considered to be alive. Once the size and condition of the tree were determined a quadrat was placed in close proximity to the base of the tree and in a 60 second interval all of the individual insects were manually counted inside the quadrat.

本实验共开展两次采样，两次实验间隔一周。首次采样于2015年10月13日下午2:57至5:05进行，当日气温15℃，天气为多云；第二次采样于2015年10月20日下午2:47至4:53进行，当日气温17℃，前期为多云天气，后期伴有小雨。实验地点为约克大学（York University）丹比林地（Danby Woods）的林地区域，旨在探究枫树的生长状态与树干直径是否会影响其周边区域的昆虫丰度。丹尼尔（Daniel）、马尔基安（Markian）、邦妮（Bonnie）与穆罕默德（Muhammad）全程参与了两次实验。实验期间，该林地地表遍布黄、橙相间的落叶，散落有浆果，仅有少量叶片仍留存于树冠之上。本次实验共完成100组重复采样。每组重复采样均随机选取一棵枫树，首先测量其树干直径：直径≤10英寸者记为小型枫树，直径＞10英寸者记为大型枫树。同时记录树木生长状态：若树木倒伏且已腐烂，则判定为枯树；若仍扎根于土壤且带有叶片，则判定为活树。确定树木尺寸与生长状态后，将样方（quadrat）放置于树基周边区域，在60秒时长内手动计数样方内所有单个昆虫的数量。