Biodiversity and Abundance of Insects within York University

Methods: In order to become more acquainted with publishing datasets and estimating insect abundances, an experimental study was conducted on 30th September 2014, at approximately 3:05PM-4:56PM at two different animal habitats located within York University’s Keele campus; the Saywell Woodlots and the Grassland east of Stong College. The temperature was approximately 20°C with overcast skies. In this experiment, a 1.0m by 1.0m quadrat was used to estimate insect abundance. Once placed onto the vegetation, both moving and still insects within the quadrat were counted and noted for two minutes of placement. The number of different recognizable taxonomic units per quadrat sample was counted as well. This experiment was replicated 10 times within both habitats, with each subsequent quadrat placed approximately 5.0m apart. It is noted that the quadrats were purposely placed near flatter land as opposed to hills. Using a dichotomous key located on pages 40-49 of the BIOL2050 lab manual, the different invertebrate species were identified using their distinguishable external features.