Investigation of the influence of tree size and tree condition on insect abundance of maple trees in Danby Woodlot, York University

This study was done in collaboration with 3 other team members consisting of Muhammad Akram, Daniel Germani, and Markian Plawiuk. The purpose of this study was to collect data in order to investigate the influence of tree size and tree condition of maple trees on the abundance of insects within close proximity to the tree. It was hypothesized that there would be a greater abundance of insects if trees were dead and/or large, compared to trees that were alive and/or small. It was predicted that the abundance of insects found in proximity of the trees in predicted in descending order would be: dead and large trees (greatest abundance of insects), dead and small trees, alive and large trees, alive and small trees (least abundance of insects). The experiment took place at the Danby Woodlot at York University Keele campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Danby Woodlot consisted of an abundance of different species of trees of various heights and canopy coverage. Overall, there were moderate amounts of canopy coverage within the entire Woodlot, as moderate amounts of sunlight were able to pass through. The Woodlot also had a moderate amount of leaves on the ground, as the study took place in the early Fall season. Data collection was completed on two separate days, each day 1 week apart from each other. The first day of study was Tuesday October 13th 2015, which was a cool and slightly windy, cloudy day with a temperature of 15°C and a wind current of approximately 10km/h. On this day, data collection began at 2:57PM and concluded at 5:05PM. The second day of study was Tuesday October 20th 2015, which was a cool and gloomy day with light drizzles and a temperature of 17°C and a wind current of approximately 11km/h. On this day, data collection began at 2:47PM and concluded at 4:53PM. Over the two days of data collection, 25 maple trees from each category were studied: alive and small, alive and large, dead and small, dead and large. To locate the next tree to investigate, the members of the group continually walked East further into the Woodlot after sampling the first maple tree found at the centre of the Woodlot. The size of the tree was determined by measuring the dbh using a measuring tape. The number of insects within a 1m2 quadrat placed 1 metre to the left/West of the tree of interest was counted by all four members of the group collaboratively (with each member responsible for 1 side of the quadrat) while using a digital stopwatch to ensure that the duration of counting was consistently 60 seconds for each tree under investigation. On the first day of data collection, 10 maple trees belonging to each of the four categories were studied, while 15 maple trees of each category were studied for the second day of data collection. In total, 100 maple trees were sampled. Due to the precipitation occurring on the second day of data collection, it was believed that the data collected may have been affected. This was due to how the abundance of insects was likely to be affected by the uncontrollable weather conditions which differed from the first day of data collection.