Lab 4: Field sample training with animals (pan trap)

The Pan Trap dataset was collected on the 1st of October 2014 at approximately 4:50pm, in both the grassland and woodlot area at the Keele campus of York University in Toronto, Ontario. It was a wet day as it had rained the night before and towards the end of the lab it was cloudy with showers. At the beginning of the lab, nine bowls of different colours filled with soapy water were placed at intervals in a random site at the grassland area. The soapy water was added to each bowl in order to kill whatever insects entered into it. The bowls were placed in a sequence of light blue, yellow and white so as to observe the insects that were attracted to each colour. Three blue coloured soapy bowls were also placed at a random site in the woodlot area. They were all the same colour as there were no more bowls of the other colours. Also the bowls were placed in a location where there would be minimal disturbance by other members of the lab so as not to scare away the insects. At the end of the lab, the number of insects and the number of different recognizable taxonomic units (RTUs) were determined in both the grassland and the woodlot. In the grassland area, a Large Carpenter Bee (Xylocopoa virginica)-order Hymenoptera, was attracted to one of the yellow bowls, then in one of the blue bowls there was a three-spotted jumping spider (Phidippus audax)-order Araneae. In another blue bowl in the grassland area there was Grasshopper- order Orthoptera and no insects were attracted to the white bowls. In the woodlot, only one insect was observed in all three blue bowls and they are called Aphids- order Hemiptera. A group of four students performed this experiment.