Today we showed a class of grade sixes and Kindergartens our Malaise Trap. They thought it was really cool! Also while another class was out they noticed that a spider has been stealing our bugs! It built a web right under where the bugs would fall into the ethanol, so instead they would get trapped, then dinner would be served for the spider!
– Alexandra
This is our blog update on our Malaise trap. Our catch volume is about 3 and we are on week 2. It was a bit cold when we checked the trap. Our trap will be picked up on Friday.
Blog you later alligator (ha ha)!!!!!!!!!!!
The count is in the 30’s after a mid-week count yesterday at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Guelph. New additions include 2 ladybugs this time. We are happy to see some diversity! We are going to say goodbye to the trap tomorrow with the class by doing a photo shoot.
This is the amount of insects we got for the first week. It wasn’t much, but we hope to get more the second week.The area we put it in has an abundance of creatures of all different kinds (we saw a red admiral butterfly before we went to set it up!) We showed our project to a younger class in our school and they got so excited!This is a great program and all the kids in our school want to participate!
It has definitely been a different week than last week for collecting specimens.. overall much cooler and certainly much soggier!
J. F. Ross students in periods 1, 3 and 4 have been collecting their data on a daily basis, Mr. Neerhof’s class visited with Dr. Steinke during the virtual BioBus tour.
Students have enjoyed visiting the trap each day, and have incorporated this hands-on study into their ecology unit.
Activities and discussions around biodiversity, ecosystem sustainability and carrying capacity have stemmed from the experience.
Thanks so much from all of the Ross students!
Today Emma, Meagan, and Paige checked the insect trap. We discovered 8 bugs. There were 5 mosquitoes, 1 crane fly, and 1 horse fly. It was very cloudy and humid outside. We finally got to check the trap because the clown boys always beat us to it when asking to check the trap!
Meet Helix (the European Mantis)!
A few days ago, one of our collections technicians, Valerie, spotted a European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) while working in the Arboretum at the University of Guelph. Valerie is a fantastic photographer and has graciously shared some of her pictures of Helix with us.
As you can tell by his species name, Helix is native to Europe, Africa and Asia and was introduced to North America in 1899. The European Mantis is now found across Canada as well as throughout northern parts of the United States.
The European Mantis can live in a variety of habitats, but seems to prefer green growth and sunny areas by shrubbery or herbaceous plants.
Helix will prey on several different kinds of insects including moths, caterpillars, butterflies and bees. Here Helix is pictured munching on a cricket.
The European species comes in a wide variety of colours ranging from dark brown to bright green. Like all Mantids, the female is larger than the male, especially at the abdomen. Due to their size, females are unlikely to fly and will scare off predators by flaring their wings and raising their arms. After mating, females have been known to consume the male they reproduce with.
Jack Chambers PS has sent us a #SMTPselfie! Great Picture!
The Collections Unit at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) is extremely excited that we’ll soon be helping out with this fall’s edition of the School Malaise Trap Program (SMTP). We are anxiously awaiting the samples to arrive next week, when we finally get to do our part in the ‘DNA barcoding’ process. Our unit is basically responsible for all the steps leading up to the lab work – we collect specimens in the field, sort the trap samples and specimens, then database, photograph and tissue sample. That small piece of tissue (or the entire specimen for very small organisms) is then handed off to the laboratory where that unit is responsible for DNA extraction, amplification of the DNA barcode region, and finally DNA sequencing. For the SMTP, we’re getting hundreds of young biologists helping with the field collection, and we can’t wait to see what they trapped in their schoolyards. Who knows – maybe they’ll collect species we’ve never found before and they’ll have to give us advice!
Stay tuned for an update from us next week when the samples have arrived and we’re ‘forceps-deep’ in all the great trap samples collected through the SMTP.
MOTH AND BEE–About 5-7 more insects were caught yesterday while it damper and colder at St. Ignatius of Loyola. Although it was a slower day, new additions include: a bee and a small type of moth. The moth is something we have not had before so the variety has been really interesting for us to see.
