Yorku.grassland.woodlot.Sept27-2016.csv

Prediction: It was predicted that there would be a greater abundance of insect species in the grassland environment. Hypothesis: The abundance of insect species in the bright yellow coloured pan traps that are within the grassland environment will be greater than the total number of insects in the pale or white coloured pan traps, because the insects are more attracted to the brightly coloured bowls compared to the pale coloured bowls. Meta-Data: Number of Pan traps : The number of Pan traps that were placed in each habitat. There were ten Pan traps that were placed in the grassland environment and there was also ten Pan traps positioned in the Woodlot. In total there were twenty Pan traps that were placed in the habitats combined and this also represents the number of replicates that were conducted, which was n=20. This variable is continuous since numbers were used. Colour of Pan traps: The Pan traps came in three different colour s which were white, blue and yellow. This is a categorical variable. Type of Habitat: The experimental study was conducted in a grassland and a woodlot. A grassland is known as an area where there is vegetation. The other habitat which was a woodlot is a forest environment. This is a categorical variable. Number of Insects: The total amount of insects was counted in each Pan trap that was placed in each type of habitat. This is a continuous variable. Number of different species (rtus): The number of distinct species that were found in the soapy water in each Pan trap. Rtus is the abbreviated form which means different recognizable taxonomic units per sample. This is a continuous variable. Methods: This experimental study was conducted on Tuesday September 27, 2016 from 2:50pm-3:50pm in both a grassland and woodlot habitat. The location of this study was done in Boyer Woodlot in York University campus, with a latitude of 43.8o, and a longitude of -79.5o. The temperature was 21oC, it was partly cloudy, a wind coming from the southwest direction at 23 km/h and the humidity was 43% in Boyer Woodlot. First the researcher went to the edge of the grassland environment which was northwest of the Lumber building and took ten steps forward. Then first Pan trap was positioned in the grassland environment, and a systematic approach was used when placing the Pan traps in the grassland environment. In between each Pan trap there was a distance of 0.5 metres, and the colour of the Pan traps were randomly placed with the order white, blue, and yellow until ten Pan traps were placed in the grassland habitat. Next the researcher filled each Pan trap which had a diameter of 18 centimetres and a depth of 5 centimetres with soapy water. Each Pan trap was filled half way. After the researcher stood at the edge of the woodlot habitat and took ten steps forward, and then the first Pan trap was placed in the woodlot. The colours of the Pan trap were also placed in the same order like the Pan traps in the grassland habitat. Both of the habitats contained 4 white, 3 blue, and 3 yellow Pan traps. Soapy water was also placed in each Pan trap where only half the volume of the bowls were filled. Then the Pan traps in each habitat were left untouched for an hour, the data was collected in a chart form. The number of insects in the soapy water of the Pan traps within the grassland and woodlot were visually observed and counted. The researcher then visually counted the different number of species or the different recognizable taxonomic units per sample. The different number of species that were found in this experiment included ants, and flies which are two distinct species.