WK 4: Field Sample Training with Animals

The experiment was conducted to study the number of various insects found in the grassland area at York University. The data for this experiment was collected on September 29, 2015 from 3:00 pm-3:30 pm. The data was collected by placing a 1 m by 1 m quadrat in 10 random locations in the mowed grass area and again in the tall grass area, for a total of 20 quadrat samples. The locations for the quadrats in both the mowed and tall grass area, were chosen by taking five steps in any direction and placing the quadrat wherever we stopped after the fifth step. Measurements of the number of insects and the number of different recognizable taxonomic units were taken after the quadrats were placed. The number of insects, which represents the total number of insects found inside the quadrat, was measured by doing a quick count of all the insects in the quadrat. The number of different recognizable taxonomic units represents the number of different types of insects found in the quadrat. For this, the insects in the quadrat were differentiated by analyzing their shape, size and colour.