Lab 4: The effect of different coloured pan traps placed in a disturbed vs. undisturbed grassland have on the abundance of insects

The data was collected over a period of two weeks on two days. Day 1 was Oct.15, 2015 cloudy with showers 16°C wind 50km/h NE and gusts up to 61km/h making the temperature feel like 10°C. Day 2 was Oct. 22, 2015 sunny16°C with wind 30km/h and gusts up to 41km/h W making the temperature on day 2 feel like 13°C. In order keep the experiment consistent both days were conducted at the same time 3:00pm to 4:15 pm and left for a duration of 1 hour and 15 minutes in the two sites disturbed (mowed) and undisturbed (unmowed), in the Danby grassland on York University's Keele campus. The disturbed site was about 1 month old and contained the following plants that were shorter than what was found in the undisturbed site: grass, milkweed, golden rod, purple aster, white aster, and dominated by common thistle, as well as a few scattered trees. The undisturbed site was also found to be much denser. The data was collected by Vivian D, Amandeep B, Alexander K, and Myself (Stephanie A). The experiment was set up by placing a 12m long transect randomly in both sites, disturbed and undisturbed. Laying down the yellow, white, and blue pan traps in a systematic alternating pattern 1m apart from each other for a total of 12 pan traps (4 of each colour) per site. Once the pans were placed they were filled with soapy water and left for the duration stated above of 1 hour and 15 minutes. After said duration the abundance; total number of individual insects found within each pan trap was recorded using the aid of tweezers to visually count the number of insects. The total sample size was n=48. The purpose of this experiment was to see whether or not different colour pan traps (yellow, white and blue) had an affect on the abundance of insects found in two different sites disturbed (mowed) and undisturbed (unmowed).

本数据集的采集工作覆盖两周内的两个采样日。第一采样日为2015年10月15日，当日天气为多云伴阵雨，气温16℃，东北风风速50km/h，阵风最高达61km/h，体感温度为10℃。第二采样日为2015年10月22日，当日晴，气温16℃，西风风速30km/h，阵风最高达41km/h，体感温度为13℃。为保证实验条件一致性，两日采样均于当日15:00至16:15开展，单场采样时长为1小时15分钟，采样点位为约克大学基尔校区丹比草原的两处样地：干扰（刈割，mowed）样地与未干扰（未刈割，unmowed）样地。干扰样地形成时长约1个月，其植被高度低于未干扰样地，伴生植物包括禾草、马利筋、一枝黄花、紫菀、白菀，优势物种为普通蓟，另有少量零星分布的乔木；未干扰样地的植被密度则显著更高。本数据集由Vivian D、Amandeep B、Alexander K及笔者Stephanie A共同采集完成。实验布设阶段，先在两处样地内随机设置1条长12m的样带（transect），随后以1m间隔的系统交替布设方式，放置黄、白、蓝三色诱集盘（pan trap），每个样地共布设12个诱集盘，每色各4个。诱集盘布设完成后，向其中注入肥皂水并静置前述1小时15分钟的采样时长。采样时长结束后，借助镊子辅助目视计数每个诱集盘内捕获的昆虫个体总数（即丰度）。本次实验总样本量为n=48。本实验旨在探究不同颜色（黄、白、蓝）的诱集盘，对两处不同样地（干扰刈割与未干扰未刈割）内捕获的昆虫丰度是否存在影响。