WK4: Pan trap dataset

This lab was conducted by using pan traps to capture insects on York University grassland and woodlot near Strong Pond which took place on September 29, 2015. Four bowls were placed 1 metre apart for each lot, each bowl contained a mixture of water and soap, where they were collected towards the end of the lab to record, and identify the insects in the bowls. When setting up the pan traps for the grasslands, it was decided that the bowls should be in an area with high vegetation, and was close to other plants in order to maximize the number of insects captured. For the woodlots, the bowls were placed near the edge of trees where insects were most abundant. Having a variety of coloured bowls were important as different insects may prefer specific colours, which would result in higher diversity of what is captured. From the results, the pan trap woodlot dataset contained the most number of species while being most diverse as well. A dichotomous key was used to identify the order of the species that were accounted for in each bowl. The weather had an impact on the collected results as the majority of the bowls were empty as insects were less active in wet conditions.