Insect Abundance and Diversity in the Woodlot and Grassland Habitat

Method: Group members: Afraa, Maham, Farinaz and Sana The purpose of this experiment was to compare insect type, abundance and diversity in two different habitats, woodlot and grassland. It can be noted that more sunlight enters the grassland habitat in comparison to the woodlot. More sunlight would result in a greater abundance of plants which may act as a food source for the insects. Thus, I hypothesize that greater types of insects and a higher insect abundance and diversity will be found in the grassland habitat. Data collection for dataset 1 took place at the Northwest corner of York University's Keele campus in a woodlot and grassland habitat on Oct. 3, 2014 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm by Sana Jamal and Afraa Trafdar. Sana recorded the data while Afraa set down the quadrats. At the time of data collection, it was raining with a light wind. The temperature at this time was about 23 degrees Celsius. In each habitat, woodlot and grassland, 10 quadrats were placed randomly. Each quadrat was observed for insect type, abundance and diversity for 1 minute. Grass was searched using hands for insects that may appear hidden. In addition, insects flying 10 cm above the quadrat were considered.