Tree Condition vs Insect Abundance at York University

Experiment was conducted on both the 13th and 20th of October 2015 in the Danby Woodlot at York University to observe a Maple tree's (Acer saccharum) size and condition, and how it relates to insect abundance in it's immediate vicinity. It was hypothesized that size and condition of the tree does infact impact the the insect abundance. Starting at approximatly 2:50pm each day, the first tree was selected. First it's condition and size were recorded, afterwards a quadrat was placed 1ft away from the base of the tree. All four researchers condributed to count as many insects as possible within the quadrst in a 60 second time interval. Experiment was conducted 25 times for each combination of variables (Large Dead, Large Alive, Small Dead, and Small Alive) over the 2 days. Experiment ended at approximatly 5:00pm each day. Day 1 (October 13th) was approximatly 15 degrees celcius and cloudy, with wind speeds of 10km/hour. It was noted that many fallen berries were found within the quadrats that day possibly affecting the abundance. Day 2 (October 20th) had a temperature of 17 degrees celcius with wind speeds of 11km/hour. This day many leaves were noticed covering the ground instead of the berries that had been there the week before. The other researchers from the group were Bonnie Duong, Muhammed Akrum, and Daniel Germani.