Abundance and variety of insects in the Grassland and Saywell Wooodlot situated in the York University community

The data was collected on September 28th, 2015 at approximately between 3-5 pm in the Grass land situated by Stong pond and the Saywell woodlot in the York University community. The temperature at the time of observation was 20 degree celsius, cloudy with winds. There had been rain slightly before arrival to the grassland and woodlot. The necessary and required equipments were one 1metre x 1metre quadrat. The data was collected to identify the abundance and types of bugs in both the mentioned habitats. Systematic sampling was in use, where every 10 steps the quadrat was placed. For each sample the quadrat was placed and observed for 2 minutes using a timer. In that time any bug that was within the quadrat as well as any directly flying above the quadrat was recorded. The area within the quadrat was slightly disturbed to make the bugs visible by manoeuvring the tall grass with a stick. This method was repeated 10 times in both the habitats for a total of 20 replicates. Descriptive notes of the insects were taken to later help identify the type of insect recorded for cases in which the insect could not be identified.

Many bugs were found in both habitats which include:

Garden spiders (order: Araneae)

Ants (order: Hymenoptera)

Flys (order: Diptera)

Bees (order: Hymenoptera)

Carolina grasshoppers (order: Orthoptera)

Dragonflys (order: Odonata)

Beetles (order: Coleoptera)

Plant hoppers (order: Hemiptera)

Meadow spittlebug (order: Homoptera)

snails (order: Pulmonata)