Day 5 and Biologists are at work! We’ve had warm weather with sporadic rainfall. We’ve been observing daily and noting down any significant details.
Project: Progressing successfully
Tag Archives: citizen science
First week
Hi, we’re the grade 6 class at Chesley District Community School, in Chesley, ON. We set up our Malaise trap on Monday morning and our first thought was: this trap is so big, it must catch a lot of bugs! The next day we found out we were right, because not even 24 hours had caught bugs up to the first line. We chose the spot that we did because it is a fenced in area that cannot be disturbed by other students, and it is right next to a garden that is buzzing with wildlife at this time of year. We estimate that there will be lots of flies, bees, and other bugs that like weeds a lot. Our class appreciates nature and we are so excited to see what we have caught in our trap as citizen scientists!
Richview Collegiate’s Start and Success
Day 1
The experiment is up and running at Richview Collegiate Institute. The trap has been set up in the school’s central courtyard. The students have high hopes for the findings in the experiment since the courtyard has not been weeded since June. In order to create awareness about the project an announcement was read in the morning after the national anthem and information tables were set up and manned during the lunch hour. Over the course of the day three classes were brought into the courtyard to discuss the trapping process. They discussed the purposes, method, and potential uses for the experiment and the trapping process. It was overall a successful start to Richview’s experiment.
Day 2
The experiment has sparked interest throughout the school. Many students have been very curious and have dropped by the courtyard to see the trap and observe what is happening. Two more classes have been taken to see the trap. The experiment provides great learning opportunities and has been used already to discuss method and biomolecules. Daily observations are being taken now to ensure accuracy in the results. The Biology department is excited to see what the future holds for the experiment.
Success @ Jack Chambers
We got bugs!
Success at Jack Chambers P.S.
Hello there, my name is Alex and I am from Jack Chambers Public School. My class and I were pleased today to go out to our Malaise Trap to find many bugs captured. A classmate and I also witnessed an insect fly into the trap when we were out this morning. We’re very lucky to have the Malaise Trap where it is at the moment. It is about a minute walk from our school, and is located by a pond just off the boundaries of our school yard. We’ve gone out every day for the past 3 days. We plan to continue to go out everyday for as long as we have the Malaise Trap. Even though today was our third day going out we have only captured a days worth of insects due to our epic fail (our bottle fell off during the first day). We will make sure to get more bugs especially with the new bottle that we’re getting. Thank you for the cool trap!
-Alex 🙂
Catching Crane Flies at BIO!
Hello All,
Vanessa here! Today Emily and I went out to change the bottle on the Malaise trap that we have set up in front of the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO). We have had this trap out all summer and mainly use it for educational purposes, such as teaching school groups about insect trapping methods. The last time we changed the bottle was approximately two weeks ago and we were thrilled to see that the bottle was quite full!
Emily and I were quite curious about what we caught, so we decided to take a sneak peek. Peering into the bottle, we noticed an abundance of a large mosquito-like insect, commonly called a crane fly.
Crane flies come from the family Tipulidae and there are over 4,000 species found worldwide. Although they look like large mosquitoes, crane flies will not bite animals or humans. Crane flies will feed on nectar, or they will not eat at all; most adult crane flies will only mate then die. Because many species of crane flies are quite large and very abundant, they are easily preyed upon by birds, mammals, fishes, and other vertebrates, as well as by spiders and predacious insects.
Flickr Creative Commons
We are excited to hear about what you caught in your traps!
John F. Ross CVI, Guelph, Ontario
We are happy to be participating in the study again this year! Three classes of grade 9 students taught by Ms. Bender and Mr. Neerhof are studying the importance of biodiversity in sustainable ecosystems. The trap was deployed last Friday, with the collection bottle attached this past (very chilly) Monday morning. We have few specimens to report, and we are hoping that the nice weather this week contributes to more insect activity.
St. Charles College…up and running…and…cue freezing temperatures.
The trap at St. Charles College in Sudbury is up, running and visible from my classroom. Unfortunately for us, though, the weather became unseasonably cold and wet for the past few days. We have a few insects in the trap at this point, but not many. However, we are supposed to be in for some warm sunny weather for the remainder of the week; hopefully we get a lot more in the way of insects.
One thing I think would be useful would be clear plastic collection bottles. That way we could see what types of insects are actually in the bottle.
Curriculum Connection
Language Arts – Each student chose an insect common in Ontario and learned everything there was to know about that bug. They presented their info orally and in Microsoft Powerpoint.
Students are extra excited to look for their bug in the trap and in the field 🙂
Claire Gulliver- Jack Chambers P.S.
Jack Chambers Public School – Malaise Trap Set Up
Today we set up our Malaise trap by the pond. We saw lots of wildlife while we set it up. We saw Mallard ducks, a Cormorant, and a Great blue heron. We are excited to see all the cool bugs we trap!
– Ashton
