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
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!
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)
We could say it all started on Friday with the set up….but really we have been chomping at the bit since Monday. So excited to be part of this great program and eagerly awaiting to be contributors of data!
We are an enthusiastic bunch of Grade 6 students from Crestview Public School in Kitchener. For the rest of Canada, we are about an hour west of Toronto. Our school is surrounded by Ash, Maple and Walnut trees which is pretty typical for this area, and at the moment we are enjoying the last « hurrah » of summer with temperatures in the mid to high 20’s everyday.
We decided on a somewhat secluded spot at the back of the Kindergarten play area. We had to adjust the caution tape to be lower so that the little Kindies would not crawl under to sneak a peak. Our tent is surrounded by trees and bushes and by the looks of it LOTS of flying insects!
Glad to part of this awesome team. We are enjoying reading the other posts and looking where all the other teams are from.
Lovin’ our #SMTPselfie
Just a quick note from a very proud teacher…….over the weekend some teenagers decided to rip down our caution tape and remove some poles from the tent. Some of our more local students made a point of checking on the tent every day. They saw what had happened, scoured the playground, found the parts and put the tent back together good as new. I am so proud of this group for their pride in ownership, dedication to this project and great sense of responsibility! Thank you 6’s! Mrs. Cochrane 🙂
Mme Sooley’s class set up our trap this morning on the Rothesay common. We just need to add the collection bottles on Monday, and then see what’s inside!
Then, all 4 of Mme Sooley’s Science classes made some predictions. They were asked, ‘What kind of insects do you think we will find in our trap?’ The most popular guesses were:
Sundre High School in Sundre Alberta scouted out a great spot for our trap – only to realize there was a big « adventure race » scheduled for the area. We are rethinking our placement, and are likely going to move to a more secure location.
Glad to report that our Grade 5 class has set up our Malaise Trap last Friday, and it weathered a very windy and rainy North Vancouver weekend. The collection bottle has now been added, and we’ve seen flying insects in the surrounding bush and gardens nearby.
Today was exciting for my ‘Bug Research Team’. We struggled setting up the trap as there was a broken frame. Nevertheless, we persevered, set the trap and fought off many primary students for entry into the area! Great day and excited anticipation for our ‘bug catch’ for tomorrow!
After overcoming some issue with securing the Malaise Trap to our garden beds, students in Mr. Servos’ Environmental Science class got creative with some bags of compost and secured the Malaise trap on Friday. We were happy to see that despite some storms and high winds on the weekend the trap stayed up…well mostly! Some minor adjustments had to happen this morning before we could attach the collection bottle, but we are confident that our trap will now be able to handle the wind. We are pleased to announce that the first insects have been captured successfully! Good luck to all the other participating schools.
(Notice the CN tower in our photos?)
![IMG_20150921_132555812[1]](http://malaiseprogram.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/IMG_20150921_1325558121.jpg)
We had a great media day for Stayner Collegiate Institute on our first day of trapping. K.C. Colby came by from CTV Barrie to interview Ms. Ellerby (Principal), Mr. Mcnea and Mr. Gibson (Teachers) and Jasmine Giles and Jordan Carruthers (Students) about the program, and all of the classes involved came out to watch.
We also had Jessica Kukac from the Simcoe County District School Board here in the morning posting some snippets on social media.
The insects are starting to collect already!