Yorku.grassland.woodlot.Sept27-2016.csv

Prediction:
It was predicted that there would be a greater abundance of insect species in
the grassland environment.

 Hypothesis:
The
abundance of insect species in the bright yellow coloured pan traps that are
within the grassland environment will be greater than the total number of
insects in the pale or white coloured pan traps, because the insects are more
attracted to the brightly coloured bowls compared to the pale coloured bowls.

Meta-Data:

Number
of Pan traps : The number of Pan traps
that were placed in each habitat. There were ten Pan traps that were placed in
the grassland environment and there was also ten Pan traps positioned in the
Woodlot.  In total there were twenty Pan
traps that were placed in the habitats combined and this also represents the
number of replicates that were conducted, which was n=20. This variable is continuous
since numbers were used.

Colour
of Pan traps: The Pan traps came in three different
colour s which were white, blue and yellow. This is a categorical variable.

Type
of Habitat: The experimental study was conducted in
a grassland and a woodlot. A grassland is known as an area where there is
vegetation. The other habitat which was a woodlot is a forest environment. This
is a categorical variable.

Number
of Insects: The total amount of insects was counted
in each Pan trap that was placed in each type of habitat. This is a continuous variable.

Number
of different species (rtus): The number of distinct
species that were found in the soapy water in each Pan trap. Rtus is the
abbreviated form which means different recognizable taxonomic units per sample.
This is a continuous variable.

Methods:

            This
experimental study was conducted on Tuesday September 27, 2016 from 2:50pm-3:50pm
in both a grassland and woodlot habitat. The location of this study was done in
Boyer Woodlot in York University campus, with a latitude of 43.8o,
and a longitude of -79.5o. The temperature was 21oC, it
was partly cloudy, a wind coming from the southwest direction at 23 km/h and
the humidity was 43% in Boyer Woodlot. First the researcher went to the edge of
the grassland environment which was northwest of the Lumber building and took
ten steps forward. Then first Pan trap was positioned in the grassland
environment, and a systematic approach was used when placing the Pan traps in
the grassland environment. In between each Pan trap there was a distance of 0.5
metres, and the colour of the Pan traps were randomly placed with the order
white, blue, and yellow until ten Pan traps were placed in the grassland
habitat. Next the researcher filled each Pan trap which had a diameter of 18 centimetres
and a depth of 5 centimetres with soapy water. Each Pan trap was filled half way.
After the researcher stood at the edge of the woodlot habitat and took ten steps
forward, and then the first Pan trap was placed in the woodlot. The colours of
the Pan trap were also placed in the same order like the Pan traps in the grassland
habitat. Both of the habitats contained 4 white, 3 blue, and 3 yellow Pan
traps. Soapy water was also placed in each Pan trap where only half the volume
of the bowls were filled. Then the Pan traps in each habitat were left
untouched for an hour, the data was collected in a chart form. The number of
insects in the soapy water of the Pan traps within the grassland and woodlot
were visually observed and counted. The researcher then visually counted the
different number of species or the different recognizable taxonomic units per
sample. The different number of species that were found in this experiment
included ants, and flies which are two distinct species.