Ecology Lab 5: Completed Experimental Design

Data collected from a field experiment investigating edge effects on the relationship of insect abundance and vegetation density on two different days in a grassy lot at York University. 25 meters of transect tape was laid out beginning from the edge of the grassland towards the center of the field. The edge was deemed to be any area where the grassland seemed to end or taper off. Small holes were dug for the pitfall traps, which were placed 5 meters apart from each other along the transect line. Their position relative to the edge of the grassland was measured by the transect line and was recorded. A 1m by 1m quadrat was placed on each trap, with the trap in the center, and the vegetation density was calculated by estimating the number of individual grasses and plants. This process was repeated for a total of 4 different transects with 5 pitfall traps on each line, so a total of 20 pitfall traps were placed and subsequently examined after 1.5 hours to check for trapped insects.