Pan Trap Dataset: Grassland and Woodlot

In order to collect this data, certain methods were used in both grassland and woodlot areas. At the beginning of the laboratory fieldwork, nine plastic bowls were placed in the woodlot and grassland area at York University Campus. The bowls varied in color such that there were three bowls of blue, white and yellow placed in each area for a total of nine bowls per landscape. These bowls were distributed evenly, about 1 meter apart, in random order in both the grassland and woodlot area. Upon dispersal, each bowl was filled a quarter of the way with a distilled water and soap mixture. This mixture was used such that any organism that were to happen to crawl or fly into the bowl, it would become trapped under the surface of the soapy water and drown. These bowls were left in these areas for the entire duration of the lab, approximately 3 hours. On completion of the laboratory fieldwork, the bowls were analyzed for what organism they contained, if any. Each bowl was analyzed and any organisms inside were counted nominally and taken note of the species. The soapy water was then discarded and bowls collected. Possible restrictions or exclusions for this experiment would be to not fill the bowls enough or too little such that organisms could not become trapped. Also, each bowl should have been around 1 meter apart from each other and not too close or far apart. These things could have obscured the data that was recorded.