The impact of location and colour on the diversity and abundance of insects at York University

<b>Meta data:</b>Replicates: The total number of bowls places randomly in both grassland and woodlot Number of insects: it’s a continuous variable, which shows the total number of individuals visualized and counted in the bowl. Bowl colour: it’s a categorical variable which shows the different colours which the bowl may have; yellow, blue or white. . Rtus (recognizable taxonomic unit): it’s a continuous variable which represents the total number of different identified insects visualized in bowl and can represent diversity. Study site it’s a categorical variable and represents the location of habitat used for measuring the abundance and diversity of insects; woodlot or grassland.<b>Method:</b> On Monday, September 26^th 2016, the data was collected on a rainy day with the temperature of 17 °C, approximately at 3:00 pm. The woodlots and grasslands of Saywell Woods at York University were chosen for data collection. This experiment was conducted with the help of Fatin Anwar, a student of Biol 2050 course. 20 bowls with three colors of yellow, blue and white were obtained and each was filled with soapy water up to an inch. For each grassland and woodlot, 10 bowls were placed randomly, by taking random number of steps away from each bowl. The number of steps was determined using a random-number-generator application on iPhone. After waiting for an hour, the number of insects and the number of different recognizable taxonomic units (rtus) was measured through visualization and counting. <b>Hypothesis:</b>There will be more insects in woodlots than grassland, specifically on the bowls, which mimic the color of their natural habitat. The reason is that due to environmental condition, more diversity in terms of habitat is available for insects. In addition, if the colour of the bowl is more similar to the habitat that these insects live, such as trees or flowers, the chances of insect being trapped in the bowl is also higher. <b>Prediction:</b>The most number of insects and rtus would be found on the bowls with yellow colour and placed in woodlots, since there are more insects found in woodlots and the yellow colour mimics the colour of flowers which many flies can notice.Moreover, the least number of insects and rtus would be found on blue bowls found in the grassland. Because they’re less similar to insects natural habitat and the colour of the bowl is least similar to the colour which insect can usually see.