yorku.grassland.woodlot. Sept.27/2016

Prediction: it is expected there would be a greater amount
of insects spotted in the grassland environment.

Hypothesis: There would be a greater population of insects observed
in the grassland than in the woodlot environment because the greater abundance
of flowering plants found in grassland would attract more pollinators in which
the food resources obtained from the plants can be metabolize for energy. Therefore
fewer amounts of insects would be observed in the woodlot compared to the
grassland due to the lack of plant distribution in the woodlot.

Meta-data:

Quadrat- The quadrat apparatus was used to collect the
number of different species and number of individual insects seen in a given
area.

Number of species- Examine the number of different taxonomic
units (rtus) by visual observations within the quadrat area for over 2 minutes
for each trial. Continues data.

Number of insects- Counted the total number of individual
insect seen within the quadrat area for a over 2 minutes for each trial.
Continuous data.

Methods:

The field study was taken place in a grassland and woodlot
setting at the location of Boyer Woodlot with a latitude of 43.8ᴼ and longitude
of -79.5ᴼ. The time period the experimental data was conducted from 2:45 p.m.-
4:10 p.m. on Sept. 27th 2016. The temperature was 21ᴼC with the weather
forecast being partly sunny with few clouds. The humidity of the area that day was
43ᴼ and wind was -23km/h in the southwest direction.

At the start of the experiment the length and width of the
quadrat apparatus was measured with a measuring tape. The dimension of the
quadrat was 1 metre by 1 metre and the total area of the quadrat was
calculated to be 1m2. The quadrat was initially placed at the edge
of the grassland northwest of the Lumbers building. The different species were
observed by visually counting the total number of distinguishable species
within the quadrat for a time of 2 minutes per sample. Simultaneously the total
number of insects within the quadrat area was individually counted in that
given time. 10 trials were performed in the grassland area and another 10
trials were replicated in the woodlot area, adding up to 20 trials (n=20). Random
sampling was done by taking 5 medium steps (1.5 metres) and placing the quadrat
on the ground every time the insects were sampled to ensure the distance
between the field samples observed were equivalent. By using this method,
accurate results were obtained.