yorku.grassland.woodlot. Sept.27/2016

<br> Prediction: it is expected there would be a greater amount of insects spotted in the grassland environment. Hypothesis: There would be a greater population of insects observed in the grassland than in the woodlot environment because the greater abundance of flowering plants found in grassland would attract more pollinators in which the food resources obtained from the plants can be metabolize for energy. Therefore fewer amounts of insects would be observed in the woodlot compared to the grassland due to the lack of plant distribution in the woodlot. Meta-data: Quadrat- The quadrat apparatus was used to collect the number of different species and number of individual insects seen in a given area. Number of species- Examine the number of different taxonomic units (rtus) by visual observations within the quadrat area for over 2 minutes for each trial. Continues data. Number of insects- Counted the total number of individual insect seen within the quadrat area for a over 2 minutes for each trial. Continuous data. Methods: The field study was taken place in a grassland and woodlot setting at the location of Boyer Woodlot with a latitude of 43.8ᴼ and longitude of -79.5ᴼ. The time period the experimental data was conducted from 2:45 p.m.- 4:10 p.m. on Sept. 27th 2016. The temperature was 21ᴼC with the weather forecast being partly sunny with few clouds. The humidity of the area that day was 43ᴼ and wind was -23km/h in the southwest direction. At the start of the experiment the length and width of the quadrat apparatus was measured with a measuring tape. The dimension of the quadrat was 1 metre by 1 metre and the total area of the quadrat was calculated to be 1m². The quadrat was initially placed at the edge of the grassland northwest of the Lumbers building. The different species were observed by visually counting the total number of distinguishable species within the quadrat for a time of 2 minutes per sample. Simultaneously the total number of insects within the quadrat area was individually counted in that given time. 10 trials were performed in the grassland area and another 10 trials were replicated in the woodlot area, adding up to 20 trials (n=20). Random sampling was done by taking 5 medium steps (1.5 metres) and placing the quadrat on the ground every time the insects were sampled to ensure the distance between the field samples observed were equivalent. By using this method, accurate results were obtained. <br>