Exploring the effects of plant species richness and distance to a water source on insect abundance in a representative pond ecosystem - Metadata and Methods

To measure insect abundance under different ecological conditions, n=20 transects were randomly placed along Stong Pond (43°46'13.2"N 79°30'25.9"W) on October 14th 2014 and October 21st 2014 from 2:30-4:30pm. The weather conditions varied between the two days of sampling with October 14th being clearer and warmer in comparison to October 21st , which had occasional showers and was colder. In order to separate our sampling areas, transects were equally divided into 3 portions. These areas along the transect were denoted as “Areas” 0,1, and 2 (Approximate length of 60m transect separated into three 20m sections). These represent the locations close to the pond, moderately close and far from the pond, respectively. In these locations, sweep nets were used along the transect in a straight line from the Area starting point to the starting point of the adjacent Area (approximately 20m). After the sweep nets were used, the insect abundance was measured by counting the approximate amount of individuals present within the sweep net. Following the recording of insect abundance, two 1x1m quadrats were placed randomly within the boundaries of the Area and the number of unique plant species was measured. The number of species counted in both quadrats was averaged for each Area. This process was repeated for 20 transects (10 on each sampling day). An area to place the next transect was selected by moving 5m to the left of the previous transect. The subsequent transect was placed and the process was repeated. To ensure the same area wasn’t sampled twice in the same day, a new sample area was selected by moving 20-30m away from the previous two sample areas and the procedure was repeated. After the experiment concluded, the results were aggregated for each Area to produce average insect abundances. An ANOVA test was performed in comparing the average insect abundances for the 3 Areas.