Results

Our observations took place at North Park Village Nature Center, Eugene Park, Stone Pond, Walking Stick Woods, and Big Marsh which had multiple areas with varying levels of plant diversity. For our net sweeps in North Park Village Nature Center we investigated an area with recent restoration work and a lack of vegetation in the area. For our observation Z101, we observed 3 species in comparison to our earlier observation Z100 where we observed 10.  Z100 had denser vegetation than Z101 where most of the primary vegetation in the area was demolished by restoration. Z100 had more insect species whereas Z101 had a smaller amount of insects. 

These trends were consistent across other locations as well. At Big Marsh, we found that areas with thick grasses and lots of plants yielded more insects in sweep nets compared to open, less vegetated patches. Observation Z124 had a large density of flowers and grasses where we observed 6 species. However, observation Z125 was in the edge of the savannah/wetland with less density of plants, resulting in only 2 species. 

Eugene Park had less species all around, likely due to more paved paths and lower overall plant density producing fewer insect species. This pattern reinforces our main finding: greater plant density tends to support a larger and more diverse population of arthropods.