Abundance and Diversity of Insects using Pan Trap at Stong Pond

The experiment took place at York University, Stong Pond on September 28, 2015, between 3:00-4:30pm (ET). The temperatures were 19˚C, cloudy and humid, however, prior to the study rain had occurred. In the study, 18 bowls were filled with soapy water, 9 were placed in the grassland and 9 were placed in the woodlot. Using the distance measuring tape, the bowls were each 3m apart from the previous placed bowl and they were left in each habitat for approximately 1 hour. The colours of the bowls were blue, white and yellow which were used to attract different sets of insects in both habitats. Common insects found in the soapy bowls were spiders (<em>Araneae</em>), dragonfly (<em>Anisoptera</em>), beetles (<em>Coleoptera</em>), housefly (<em>Musca Domestica</em>), crickets (<em>Gryllidae</em>) and moths (<em>Lepidoptera</em>). According to the data collected, most insects were found in grassland due to the rich vegetation and the flowers, than the woodlot which had only trees and some grass. Sarah Alsammarraie and Sharon Dhami, lab partners from Group 2, helped to set up the pan trap.