Today is the beginning of week 2. We have just replaced the bottle in the trap. The day is very miserable. It is raining lightly and overcast. The trap is under the tree which means it’s dry. More bugs might be caught because they will want to stay dry and go under the tree where the trap is. – Jamie, Sophie and Noelle
We went out in light rain to attache the bottle with ethanol today. We took pictures and stared to head inside. We just made it in before it started to pour rain!
– Ethan, James and William
Day three went well other than that we needed to move a peg because the trap was lops-sided. Weather was steady at 26oC and was pretty cloudy at 80% cover. We caught roughly 25 insects. The trap was not disturbed, but the tape was messed with.
Hi! St. Paul’s Collegiate is having a really good go product testing the Malaise Trap. We say that tongue in cheek as our conditions are nearly always very, very windy, and the durability of the trap is well-tested. It holds up well, though the collection bottle is tossed around incessantly. All of that said, there are numerous insects present. We have received many questions from interested staff and students who are not directly involved in the program but have otherwise become so via inquiry. It certainly gets mistaken as a tent with regularity!
Using scientific equipment and contributing to baseline data that drives research is a fundamentally important piece to any young person’s science education. This has certainly hit that mark. Then interest and inquiries will continue into Week 2!
All the best from the Manitoba prairie.
Today is the last day of week 1. It’s amazing that all these different schools are participating in this project. Today is 15 degrees Celsius out. It was raining and was windy. It is important to run the project the same two weeks for all schools so that the season is the same for all schools and the bugs collected can be compared.
-Owen, Michael, Annika
