Today we went out to check on our trap for the first time. We discovered that the collection bottle had fallen off. So we decided to put the week two bottle on and are waiting for further instructions. We did see little bugs in the top bottle, so we know they’re out there!
Jacob
We are all set up and ready to start collecting! My students are very excited to go see what we’ve captured! They are all divided in groups and will take turns to record our daily activity! Stay tuned!
Today our grade fours set up the trap at the front of the school. We set it in front of our garden so that the bugs still had a flyway across and into it. We’re excited. Many of our co-participants have such varied landscapes ~ fields, ponds, etc. It will be so interesting to compare the results! Many thanks to Evergreen for sharing their creative barcoding art activity. What a great way to bring the DNA concepts to one’s initial learning of it!
Grade Five students at Evergreen Elementary School in Drayton Valley have begun their study of biodiversity within Canadian ecosystems.
On September 18, as an art project before deploying the trap, we made DNA barcodes of ourselves! Students made a list of their personal and physical qualities, such as strength, kindness, courage, flexibility, and gave each of their characteristics a colour. Using their chosen colours, they created a barcode to show their unique self.
The art project helped us to gain a better understanding of DNA barcoding, and it was a fun way to show who were are.
Westside Secondary School students in Mrs. Kelly’s SBI 3U class set up their Malaise trap today on our school property in Orangeville, Ontario.
We chose a spot on grass right next to a marsh area that is adjacent to our school property hoping that the vegetation of the comparatively undisturbed natural habitat might lead a larger number of insects being captured.
The weather was windy, posing a some challenges when it came to pegging it to the ground. We are going to have to go back out tomorrow to make sure that it is still in place and catching insects.
We took advantage of being outside and gave back to the environment by collecting garbage on our way back in from setting the trap up.
Pictures will follow!
The trap is in place not far from the barn and our public park. it was a bit of a challenge putting it together. The ground was wet due to a lot of rain. We are curious about what we will get in the trap.
7Marr set up our Malaise Trap this morning. We struggled a little with the guy ropes, but got the trap set! Jack used a hammer. He was pumped! We are anxious to see what insects we collect and are looking forward to being a part of this project. Today’s temperature is 19 degrees, but it feels like 25. The skies are overcast and there was a lot of rain last night. #hammer #buglife
Tomorrow we’re going to set up our school Malaise trap! Our class at Jack Chambers P.S. is really excited. My name is Nabil, and this is the first time our school is doing something like this. We’re going to set up our trap near our school pond, and we can’t wait to see how many and what type of bugs we will find. Tomorrow we will write more about how we set the trap up and how it went.
Bye 🙂
This is truly one of the most exciting and busy times of year for staff from all departments at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario! Preparing for the School Malaise Trap Program requires extensive planning, coordination, organization, and a LOT of tape (with a little luck thrown in along the way).
And here we are! The program packages have been sent out, and shortly, students from 61 schools across Canada will be monitoring a Malaise Trap in their schoolyard for a 2 week period from September 22nd – October 3rd, 2014, in order to assess their local insect biodiversity.
When we mentioned a lot of tape, we meant it! Check out the picture below of our School Malaise Trap Program packages right before they were about to be shipped – 61 packages in total!
So let us tell you a little bit about how we got to this stage and what can be found in each of these boxes. Each package is 30″ x 14″ x 7″ and weighs approximately 14 lbs. Individual packages will contain a Malaise Trap, which is about the size of a small tent (6 feet tall and 6 feet long), a program information folder for instructors, and a “research in progress” sign which is to be placed on the Malaise Trap once it is assembled. We also include swag, such as buttons and bookmarks, for all of the students involved in the program. Currently, we have 2,526 students enrolled in the Fall 2014 version of the program from 94 classrooms. Literally, this means that staff at BIO must count out the appropriate number of bookmarks, buttons, pens etc… for each student in each of the participating classes! As you can imagine, this process can be quite time consuming so we do our best to start preparing for each program as soon as possible!
