Day 1 and Having Fun!

At Hamilton District Christian High school, our trap was set up along a wooded area, far from the sports fields and the road.  The group that suggested this site was in charge of today’s trap set up event.   We took a group photo and set up the security tape.  « It was really interesting and fun. » AP, RG, TT, JV

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Lorne Park’s Malaise Trap

Lorne Park Public School is really excited to have found the perfect location for our Malaise Trap! It’s located in our newly created « no-mow zone. » We have a hard working and inquisitive group of kid-scientists who can’t wait to discover the variety of insects that will be collected in the trap. We’re really looking forward to Monday’s official start!

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Up and Ready!

On Friday, September 18th, we ventured up to Annie Laurie Lake and we found a perfect spot to set up our Malaise Trap (minus the collection bottle).

Preeceville School's Malaise Trap
Preeceville School’s Malaise Trap

We couldn’t resist the opportunity for a class selfie!

Preeceville School Biology 30 Class
Preeceville School Biology 30 Class

We also spent some time in our Biology 30 class developing some questions for this field experiment:

  1. What species of Class Insecta are present in Preeceville (Annie Laurie Lake)?
  2. What is the representation of  species (i.e. order, family) found in Preeceville (Annie Laurie Lake)?
  3. Are there species which are indigenous to our area and not found at any of the other collections sites?
  4. What information will DNA barcoding reveal about genetic relationships among the species found in our area?

On Monday morning, Miss Paterson will be placing the collection bottle on the Malaise Trap and she will check it through the week (although we are all probably going to be stopping by at some point to take a peek).  We are excited to see what we catch!

Happy trappings!

 

Happy Collecting! (Day 1)

Hello #bioSMTP participants!

Happy collecting on this first day of trap deployment! Several of you have been tweeting and blogging pictures and we are so glad that you have found the perfect locations for your Malaise traps! We encourage you and your class to take a « #SMTPselfie » with your trap as well as tell us about the weather in your area!
Don’t forget to start filling out the « Collection Records Spreadsheet« , as you will need to submit this document to us at the end of the program (hard or electronic copy).
Happy collecting!

What a great day at Cyril Varney Public School in Sudbury, Ontario

Hi everyone,

The Grade 2/3 class at Cyril Varney Public School in Sudbury, Ontario is excited to be a part of the Malaise Trap Program.  We started off our day today by exploring all the living things in our school yard and then after about an hour, the students captured over 8 different types of insects.  Shortly after their discoveries, we had a couple of the grade 6’s help put up the tent. They had fun too!  The kids were so intrigued that they were going to spend the weekend looking for bugs in their own backyard.  Many of them said they wanted to bring them in on Monday to show the class.  We look forward to reading blogs from other schools!

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All set to go at Riverwood!

This morning at The Riverwood Conservancy, elementary instructor Alison, and teaching intern Theresa set up the Malaise Trap near the historic Chappell House. The chosen site is surrounded by forsythia, oak, beech, pine, and a beautiful Carolinian garden. We are excited to get the jar set up next week and see what we catch!

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Cobequid Educational Centre – Malaise Trap Practice

Yesterday we looked for a good location for our Malaise Trap.  We found a good location at the corner of the soccer field.  We thought this was the best location because there are trees nearby, it is a fenced area, the grass is short, it is an area that gets a lot of sun, there are flowers nearby, and it is on level ground.  We noticed that there are a lot of bugs/insects in the area already.

Today we practiced putting up the Malaise Trap.   We feel that this was a good team-building exercise.  On Monday we should be able to set the trap up pretty easily.

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Grade 10 Science students

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Grade 12 Science students