Sweep Net Transects In York University Grasslands

Data for this experiment was collected around 3:30 pm on Tuesday September 27, 2015 at the edge of a grassland on York University's Keele campus. It was a cool and rainy day with steady winds. The experiment was performed on a random section of the mowed part of the grassland. A transect measuring tape was extended 30 m and laid down. It was slowly walked along while sweeping in a steady full-range-sweep motion until the end of the transect. The sweep net was emptied carefully and the number of insects were counted and visually grouped into recognizable taxonomic units (RTUs). The total number of RTUs were then also counted and recorded. The transect was then moved five steps to the right of, and parallel to the original transect placement. It was walked along in the same manner as before, and the same variables were counted as well. This process was repeated for a total of five transects.