Camper Investigations Under Way!!

It’s hard to believe we are already half way through camp! Today, campers began the day working in smaller groups to develop a research question and investigation plan they will carry out for the rest of camp. The groups decided on these questions:

1) What flower shapes do pollinators prefer?

2) Does the amount of human traffic affect the amount and type of insects in an area?

3) How does the distance of a pan trap from a body of water affect the amount of Diptera that gets trapped?

Group #1 spent the afternoon scoping the Shakespeare Garden on campus to find flowers of different shapes to use in an observation protocol they designed. This group will use this protocol tomorrow to see the relationship between flower shape and pollinators that visit.

Group #2 developed a method of tallying the number of people who passed by pan traps they set out near Lisa’s Cafe on campus. They then collected the insects from the pan traps to investigate the relationship between number of people and number of insects. Tomorrow they will repeat this method at two new locations.

Group #3 set pan traps at varying distances away from a pond on campus, as well as at varying distances from Lake Michigan to see how distance from these bodies of water impacts Diptera populations. Tomorrow they will collect and identify insects from these traps.

We are all looking forward to more investigating tomorrow!