Color Preference of Damby Woodlot/Grassland Insects

In collaboration with a partner, pan traps were set in groups of three different colors (white, blue and yellow) in both the grassland and woodlot areas of Damby Woodlot of York University.  The traps were set at 3pm and data was not collected until 4pm of the same day to ensure an appropriate amount of time was given for the experiment.  Data was collected on September 28th 2015 on a cloudy, damp and humid day. Beginning from the middle of both areas, locations of the traps were determined by a random number generated by Excel and they were placed in groups of the three different colors in order to determine if the insects preferred a certain color over another.  Three normal groups along with one control group consisting of two pan traps (white and blue) was set in both settings; twenty-two pans were used in total.  Data was collected after one hour by using sieve; the number of total insects and total rtus were collected per individual pan, colors of the pans were noted as well.  The experiment was conducted in order to determine if insects prefer the color yellow over other colors.