The effect of soil moisture and plants on insect diversity and abundance

This experiment was done at Danby grassland, York university, to determine whether plant species and soil conditions affect insect species diversity and abundance. The data was collected over two days. The temperature on October 12, 2015 was 11°C with cloudy sky and little sunlight. On October 19, 2015, the temperature was 14 °C with cloudy sky and some rain. My group members Nicole, Michael, Tonia and I split up into two groups. Nicole and I partnered up to collect the necessary data for this experiment The materials used in this experiments were a sweep net, a transect and a tape measure. The experiment started with laying down 20 meters long transect on one side of the field. Then, a 1-meter long measuring tape was placed perpendicular to the transect belt. We then caught as many insects as possible with sweep net within that 1-meter range for 2 minutes. The total number of insects caught, the insect RTUs (recognizable taxonomic units), and different plant species number within this range was recorded. Also, soil moisture in the center of the transect was also recorded ranging from 0 to 4 (0 being very dry to 4 being extremely moist). We then moved about 2 meters away from our first transect to set up our second. No random number generator application was used in this experiment, as we ended up collecting data from the entire grassland, and did not miss any spot. In two days, Nicole and I repeated this method 60 times. At the end of the experiment, we had 120 replicates in total from both groups to test our hypothesis. After analyzing the data above, we will be able to observe if there is a correlation between these three variables.

本实验于约克大学（York University）丹比草原（Danby grassland）开展，旨在探究植物物种与土壤条件是否会对昆虫物种多样性及丰富度产生影响。本次数据采集工作共持续两日。2015年10月12日，天气多云、日照稀少，气温为11℃；2015年10月19日，天气多云且偶有降雨，气温为14℃。我与小组成员妮可（Nicole）、迈克尔（Michael）、托妮亚（Tonia）分为两组，其中我与妮可搭档完成本实验所需的数据采集任务。本次实验所用器材包括扫网（sweep net）、样带（transect）以及卷尺（tape measure）。实验流程始于在草地一侧布设20米长的样带，随后将1米长的卷尺垂直于样带放置。接着，在该1米范围内使用扫网开展为期2分钟的昆虫采集，尽可能多地捕捉昆虫。在此范围内，我们将记录捕捉到的昆虫总数量、昆虫可识别分类单元（recognizable taxonomic units，RTUs）数量，以及该区域内的不同植物物种数。同时，我们还将记录样带中心位置的土壤湿度，评分区间为0至4（0代表极度干燥，4代表极度湿润）。完成首个样带的采样后，我们从其位置向外侧移动约2米，布设第二个样带。本实验未使用随机数生成工具，因我们对整片草原进行了全覆盖的数据采集，未遗漏任何区域。两日实验期间，我与妮可共重复该实验流程60次，两组总计完成120次重复采样，用于验证我们的研究假设。待完成上述数据的分析后，我们即可探究这三类变量间是否存在相关性。