Pan Trap Dataset

The experiment was conducted on September 29, 2015 in the Danby Woodlots and Danby Grasslands on the York University Keele Campus between 2:50pm-4:30pm in collaboration with Naduni, Bryson and Stanley. The experiment was conducted on a rainy, gloomy day with an overcast and an external temperature of 17°C. The purpose of this experiment is to get field training using sampling techniques, such as pan traps, in order to estimate animal abundances. The study was conducted by organizing the solo bowls into groups of three with 1 white, 1 yellow and 1 blue bowl in each group. I then filled each bowl with enough soapy water such that the base of the bowl was filled with a thin layer of soapy water so that if any insects did fall into the pan trap, they would be unable to escape from the pan trap. I then placed 3 groups of bowls randomly throughout the Danby Woodlot, as well as another 3 groups of bowls randomly in the Danby Grassland. Within each group, I placed the three bowls in a triangular position with the bowls spread apart 30 centimeters equally from each other. I finished placing the bowls by around 3:10pm, I then waited one hour to allow the pan traps to trap insects. While waiting for an hour, I assisted my collaborators with their respective experiments. After waiting for an hour, I first went to the Woodlot and observed the results of my pan traps. I closely observed the contents of each bowl within the 3 groups scattered across the Danby Woodlot and counted the number of total insects caught within each bowl, the number of RTU’s caught within each bowl and classified the unique RTU’s. I was only able to count the captured insects if they were large enough to be seen with the naked eye. After collecting my data, I poured the soapy water out of each bowl and collected all the bowls. I then proceeded to the Danby Grasslands to repeat the same process of data tabulation. The average number of insects caught among all the pan traps was 1.6. The average number of insects caught among the blue pan traps was 1.0. The average number of insects caught among the white pan traps is 1.2. The average number of insects caught among the yellow pan traps was 2.5. The most common RTU caught was flies and the least common RTU caught was ants.