Abundance of Insects at Stong Pond

This experiment was performed on the September 28 2015, between 2.45 pm and 4.30 pm at the Stong Pond Grassland (43°46'14.2"N,79°30'22.7"W) at York University, ON. The weather was overcast, with a temperature of 21°C. It rained about 0.5 mm that morning. The experiment was performed to familiarize students with the different techniques of animals and insect sampling. Method A 15 m transect was run out in the grassland. Using a sweep net, the experimenter sweeped with an arc of 1 m on both sides of the transect while walking along the transect. The sweeps were performed for every 0.5 m on the transect. After walking the 15 m of the transect in 1 minute (to allow time to capture the insects), the experimenter carefully examined the sweep net and recorded the total number of insects, as well as the number of different type of insects and the number of insects in each of these taxonomic units. The insects were then released. This whole procedure was performed 9 more times (for a total of 10) and the transects were run out randomly by walking in different directions from the center of the grassland. The experimenters were Mohammad Imrit, Ron Kleiman, Fadumo Hersi and Gurjot Mukher.