What is the School Malaise Trap Program?

Since 2013, the School Malaise Trap Program has teamed up with thousands of students and educators across Canada in order to explore the arthropod diversity found in their schoolyards. The program’s goal is to encourage students to explore, question and understand the world around them – starting with their own schoolyard. Students are introduced to the life of a biologist and the exciting science of DNA barcoding through comprehensive lesson plans which address multiple specific expectations across elementary and secondary curricula.

A Malaise Trap, a tent-like apparatus used to collect flying insects, is set up in a school yard during the spring.The School Malaise Trap Program runs during the spring and fall of each year. Each participating school receives a program package, educational materials, and a Malaise trap to collect arthropods in their schoolyard for a specified two week period. The specimens are sent back to the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) at the University of Guelph where they are analyzed, and a report of the results is sent to each school.

Experience citizen science!

Through hands-on research and inquiry based learning, the School Malaise Trap Program encourages students to become actively engaged citizen scientists – their ongoing efforts contribute valuable data to the International Barcode of Life project. Over 1,200 new species to the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) have been discovered since this project began!

To view an individual program’s data report(s), please click here.
Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics resides on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We uphold the significance of the Dish with One Spoon Covenant and the continuing relationship our Indigenous neighbours have with this land. We recognize that today this gathering place is home to many First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and acknowledging them reminds us of our relationships to this land where we learn and work.

We would also like to acknowledge the traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples around the world, their right to self-determination and sovereignty and their relationships to all aspects of creation since time immemorial. We acknowledge the diversity of Indigenous Nations, territories, and communities and each of their unique relationships to land. Through our collective work, we acknowledge with great respect and give voice to all life on planet Earth and honour the sacred relationships between people, nature, and biodiversity.

We are committed to honouring and upholding the 46 articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will engage with a variety of Indigenous knowledge holders to ensure a diversity of perspectives.

 

Bringing Biodiversity to Canada's Schoolyards