Insects caught and identified using a sweep net in the Danby Woodlot

The data collection was situated in the Danby woodlot located at York University in Toronto. The conditions on the day of the data collection was overcast with temperatures around 19 degree celcius. The data was collected on Monday September 28th from 2:30pm to 5:30pm. The group members that assisted in the data collection were Antoni and Amina. We travelled to the grassland area of the woodlot to place down a transect of 30 meters. The grass area had larger plant and vegetation as well as long grass. The transect was placed using a random number generator to decide how many steps would be taken from a designated starting point until the transect was placed down. The transect was then walked for 15 meters by the researcher, as a group member timed the data collection for 90 seconds. A sweep net was used to catch as many insects as possible. The sweep net is used by sweeping the net close to the grassland floor back and forth quickly. After 90 seconds the amount of insects in the net was recorded and the number of different species was also recorded. The different species were vaguely identified in order to exhibit their differences. The insects were then released and the trial was repeated. For each trial half the transect was used therefore after every second trial the transect was randomly moved to a new location in the grassland. This collection was done to master the use of the sweeping net and to document the amount of insects that could be caught using it.