Field experiment: Does insect abundance differ in mowed vs. un-mowed grassland and does pan colour influence abundance?

The data was collected on Thursday October 15, 2015 at 3:00-4:20 p.m and on October 22 at 3:07-4:27 p.m. The location of the study was at Danby grasslands at York University. The mowed and un-mowed areas of the grassland were tested for abundance of insects using pans of various colors, transects, tweezers, and soapy water. The sample size for mowed and un-mowed grassland was 24 pans. Data was collected by Stephanie, Alexander, Vivian, and Amandeep. A transect was randomly placed in the mowed and un-mowed area of the grassland. Three different coloured pans (yellow, white, blue) were placed along the transect 1 m apart in that order. The total length of the transect tape was 11 m for all four trials. There were two transects used for day 1 and two for day 2, with one at each site. Soapy water was added to each pan to capture insects. After duration of 1 hour and 20 minutes the number of insects in each pan was counted using tweezers by pointing at the insects. The weather on day 1 and 2 was 16 degrees Celsius. It was cloudy with wind speed of 56 km/h on day 1 and was sunny with wind speed of 30 km/h on day 2. It was raining on day 1 when we ended the study because we did not want rain water to flood the pans while losing the insects captured. This study lasted only 1 hour and 20 minutes as a result. The same duration was used for the rest of the trials to maintain consistency. There were a few scattered trees in the un-mowed grassland, and almost none in mowed. There were lots of leaves on the ground. Common plants in the grassland were milkweed, golden rod, purple aster, white aster, common thistle. The mowed and un-mowed had the same plants but differed in height and density. The purpose of collecting this data set was to test whether there is a difference in abundance between mowed and un-mowed grassland, and if a certain coloured pan attracted more insects.本数据集采集于2015年10月15日周四下午3:00至4:20，以及10月22日下午3:07至4:27。研究地点位于约克大学（York University）的丹比草地（Danby grasslands）。本研究针对草地的修剪样地与未修剪样地，采用不同颜色的诱捕盘（pans）、样带（transect）、镊子与肥皂水开展昆虫丰度检测。修剪样地与未修剪样地的样本量均为24个诱捕盘。数据由Stephanie、Alexander、Vivian与Amandeep共同采集。在草地的修剪样地与未修剪样地中随机布设样带，沿样带按顺序以1米间距放置黄、白、蓝三种不同颜色的诱捕盘。所有四次试验的样带总长度均为11米。首日布设2条样带，次日布设2条，每个样地各布设1条。向每个诱捕盘中加入肥皂水以捕获昆虫，经过1小时20分钟后，使用镊子逐个拾取昆虫并计数每个诱捕盘内的昆虫数量。两日的气温均为16摄氏度。首日为多云天气，风速达56公里/小时，且在研究结束时恰逢降雨。为避免雨水灌入诱捕盘导致已捕获的昆虫逃逸，当日研究仅持续了1小时20分钟。次日为晴朗天气，风速为30公里/小时。后续所有试验均采用相同时长以保证实验一致性。未修剪样地中分布有少量分散树木，修剪样地则几乎无树木分布；地面覆盖大量落叶。该草地的常见植物包括马利筋（milkweed）、一枝黄花（golden rod）、紫菀（purple aster）、白菀（white aster）与普通蓟（common thistle）。修剪样地与未修剪样地的植物种类一致，但在植株高度与密度上存在差异。本数据集的采集目的为验证两个研究问题：一是修剪样地与未修剪样地的昆虫丰度是否存在显著差异，二是特定颜色的诱捕盘是否能吸引更多昆虫。