The Study of Insect Abundance Using Quadrats in the Stong Pond Grasslands and Saywell Woodlots of York University

On Monday September 28st 2015, at approximately 3:30pm to 5:00 pm an experiment including 10 grassland plots around Stong Pond and 10 woodlot plots at Saywell Lot at York University were examined to collect data on insect abundance and diversity. The goal was to identify the abundance and richness of incest’s found in each location. The weather that day was slightly breezy, approximately a 2 on the beaufort scale, cloudy, with previous rainfall of 0.5 mm on the ground, and at a temperature of 21 degrees Celsius. A one by one-meter quadrat was randomly placed around different areas of the grassland and woodlot to determine the abundance and diversity of incest’s present. To randomize the selection of the grassland and woodlot plots chosen, a plastic bottle was thrown backwards while facing the sun. The quadrat was then placed around the bottle and the results were noted over a period of 4 minutes. The results were then classified into abundance and recognizable taxonomic units (RTUs). The only tool used during the experiment was the quadrat, a plastic bottle and a timer, the incest’s were visually classified by the experimenters. Among the examined plots, there were many varieties of incest’s including the Grasshopper, Moth, Beetle, Wasp, Butterfly, Spider, Ant, Ladybug, Mosquito, Snail, Cricket and Dragonfly. This experiment was done with the assistance of lab members Danika Gordon, Karen Lin, Israt Hossain and Raman Singh.