Today was another windy, damp day. We have actually caught a fair number of bugs, but they are mostly little bugs and a lot of what look like the same bugs.
We think we recognize flies, maybe mosquitos, what we think are mayflies, and something like fruit flies.
We took a picture of the bugs we collected and looked at it on the SmartBoard. The flies are easy to recognize; the rest are harder to tell!
We look to have caught in the neighbourhood of 100 insects this first week. The trap has stayed up well.
Our first week started out with a weekend with two days of snow and a down pouring of hail, frost on the ground and a low of -2. Our trap needed a few repairs but we continued with the project. Our aim was to hope the cold weather did not kill all our insects. We made a goal of 1…………. glad to say we got 8 mosquitoes and a small spider. YEAH. Students look forward to our daily checks!
Today, as a group, we went out to the trap to see how many insects had been caught and we checked for any disturbances. We think 120 insects will be caught in the first week. Compared to Monday when we set up the trap, we found that in between Monday and Thursday 50-100 insects have been caught. We think that weather affects the number of specimens caught because in hotter weather conditions, we believe that insects will be drawn to the shade where it is cooler. Under the tree, there is the trap which will catch the insects.
-Tatenda, Logan and Klara
Looks like it might rain today, it is very overcast and a little chilly. Inside the trap, there are lots of bugs. The trap does not have any disturbances. I think today will be good because the bugs will be looking for a shelter and go to the trap and get caught.
-Josh and Fred
The sun came out just in time for our deployment on Monday at City Central Learning Centre in Surrey, BC and we have caught lots of insects so far.
Our Malaise trap continues to surprise us with at least a few small insects. We are curious as to what species some of them are! It has been a bit warmer and the sun is shining, but the cold overnight temperatures are having a significant impact on our collection!
Today is extremely hot!!! We think this will affect the outcome of our experiment in that less insects will be coming outside today. We also noticed that there are lots of flying ants in our trap…we wonder why? Other than that, the trap is unharmed.
– Olivia, Hannah and Jordan
As we observed the trap, we noticed that there were bugs in the net, but there weren’t many in the bottle. There were a lot more smaller bugs than bigger bugs.
– Justin, Crystal and Dory
After a rough start to Day 1, Day 2 turned out to be pretty nice bug catching day. It got up to 22 degrees with only a light breeze and not too many clouds.
Unfortunately, today was another cool dreary day. It only got up to 14 degrees and was really cloudy. Boo!
We don’t have very many bugs in our trap yet, not even up to the first line and our forecast is calling for more cool rainy weather.
On the plus side, our trap has stayed very well set up even in the wind since we redid the stakes and ropes! Yay!
Here is a picture of our class from yesterday, when it was nice!
