How dose the time of day affect insects Activity?

Background-

The Free State Prairie was born from people’s desire to connect with their environment; it was made possible due to the combined efforts of high school and university faculty. It has since allowed hundreds of university and high school students to become involved in real ecological research. For our project, Regan and I decided to get an estimate of how many insects were active in the prairie. To do so, we set up trailhead cameras to watch a certain part of the prairie. From the forbs to the grasshoppers to the deer, our prairie has an incredible level of biodiversity. Beginning at the very bottom, the soil is the literal foundation of the entire prairie. Although not alive, it provides vital nutrients to every plant in the prairie. The species you’ll find the most of is grass, specifically tall grass. Over half of the prairie’s inhabitants are sustained by the dominating herb.

Speaking of which, said inhabitants come in a wide range of species. The tiny grasshoppers that nibble on plants. The burrowing forb-eaters found in prairie dogs. The many variants of deer and even the hulking behemoths of the buffalo.

Finally, at the very top of the food chain you find the most powerful and vicious creatures found in any ecosystem, the predators. From the obvious killers of peregrine falcons and cougars, to the seemingly innocent ones of the black-footed ferret, every carnivore serves a crucial role in their home. Without predators feeding on the abundant amounts of prey, the herbivores would overtake and doom their prairie home.

Methods-

We found places that seemed to have some form of life in it, being living plants or eaten leaves. We set up the trail camera to take photos/videos taking them around the times of noon to 7:00 am. We did this for two days moving to different spots each day. After one day we looked over the videos and photos then set it back up.

Conclusion-

Our data was of very little use. We saw only a few bugs in the recordings and the cameras often fell. If we were to do it again, then we would use sticky traps instead of trailhead cameras. The only data we had was a couple of small insects at night. Which may imply that bugs are most active at night, however, there was not enough information to make a concrete statement.

Bibliography-

References

National Park Service. (2020, November 2). Prairies and Grasslands. National Park Service. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/wica/learn/nature/prairies.htm

References

Minnesota DNR. (2022, _ _). Department of Natural Resources. Prairie grasslands biome. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/biomes/prairie.html