Experimental Design Data Set - Measuring Insect Diversity in Grassland between Areas with and without Vegetation

This experiment took place in the grassland lot at York University's Keele campus. Two areas were chosen within the lot: one with both plants and grass, and one with only grass. A transect of 18 meters was laid down in each area and pan traps were laid down along each transect, every two meters. The pan traps were yellow, white, and blue and they were placed consecutively to ensure pseudo-randomness because each color of pan trap may attract different types of insects. The pan traps were then filled approximately halfway with a soap-water mixture and left alone for three hours. After three hours, the pan traps were inspected and dead insects were discovered inside. Each pan trap was investigated and the types of insects were visually identified by using prior knowledge, biological literature and the help of the teaching assistant. The number of each type of insect was also recorded. This was done for both areas to test for differences in insect diversity among the two different areas. This experiment was conducted twice on two separate days.