Grassland, Dataset #3 - Surveying the Insect Abundance and Different RTU

The data was collected at the grassland of York University Campus on Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm contributed by J.Quach, I. Darman and Amin A. As a group, sections of the grassland must be decided on and received a group consensus with careful consideration before starting the investigation. Once that is completed, a transect measuring tape will be used to determine a distance of 10 metres and serves the purpose of setting limits and precise measurement for each replicate. For every metre on the transect measuring tape, an attempt is performed and can be totaled up to 10 attempts (or 1 replicate for a total of 100 metres covered in 10 replicates). One group member was in charged of recording the data, another member needed for using the sweep net to capture the data and one more member or two to count the insect abundance and total number of RTUs within the sweep net by visual observation. Each group member swapped roles to get an opportunity of using the sweep net and to see a definite deviation in data. More replicates were required to see a variation in species and to get an accurate reading of certain areas of the grassland. The sweep net method is generally used to determine whether pesticides are necessary in case of an pest infestation on crops, but for this experiment, it is useful for locating certain RTU's, and whether most of the essential insect groups are present in the grasslands.