Today was our second day with the trap. There were lots of tiny bugs, and a couple of big ones. It was sunny today, but pretty cold. I saw a white spider, but I don’t know if it went into the trap. There’s a lot of grade threes and some Kindergartens who are interested in the trap. It’s really cool that our school got chosen to do the Malaise program!
Daily Archives: Tuesday September 22nd, 2015
We got bugs!
The Grade 9 Warriors:
We’ve been a bit skeptical if we would get any insects – it’s been quite cool and cloudy here, with chances of frost each night. Only a few small insects on Day 1 – there seemed to be more insects inside than out. But the sun is out today and the temperature has climbed….and we have bugs! Not a lot – but we can definitely see some different species in the collection bottle.
CPE’s Malaise trap by Austin GR 4
A Malaise trap is a type of bug trap used by Entymologists For Research. They get bugs with it it is made up of black and white mesh bugs can’t see the black mesh but they fly to the white mesh into a hole in a canister of Ethanol the fumes of Ethanol puts the bugs to sleep and preserves their bodies.
The Trap Went up in Revelstoke Yesterday!
Ms. Harrison’s Grade 4 class put up the trap at 9am yesterday! It was a cool 8 degrees and dewey. At recess and lunch, Austin and Grace explained the trap to the students who came to check it out. As they explained the trap, they gave out the bookmarks. Students were interested to know that all those coloured lines were the DNA barcode for insects! Six bugs had found their way in by lunchtime, even though we were all gathered around the trap.
Day 2 – Taking Observations!
Although it was damp and cloudy, our first check up on the Malaise trap was successful! We discovered that there were already some bugs in the trap and even as we were examining it, we observed that more bugs were attracted to the trap. We hope for another successful day of trapping tomorrow and are excited to see how the results vary with changes in weather and time! -Maryka, Joannie and Rebecca
Week 1, Day 1 Preeceville Check-in
We had a blustery start today with winds of about 30 km/h gusting up to 40 km/h. It was a cool 13 C and we were under thick cloud cover until after school let out. The Malaise Trap held strong all day and did not require any adjustments during the afternoon check-in It looks like we already have about half a dozen species of insects in the trap!
All systems are a GO at the The York School!
The goal of the Malaise trap is to investigate insects in the environment of our school’s yard. We are excited to study the bugs and compare them to other schools across the Nation using their DNA barcode. We hope to learn what species of insects live in this area compared to other schools.
The trap set up went well today at lunch time. The tent poles and mesh parts were set up with ease while we had to hammer the pegs into the tough ground to keep the strings tight and the tent sturdy. We then put caution tape around the trap to protect the area. The location of the trap is next to the school’s turf and basketball net off to the side of the school yard.
We are super excited to see what we will collect – can’t wait till tomorrow!
Written by: Amy & Anna (Grade 9 students)