Experimental Procedure

Making the Bug Vacuum

1. With an adult's help, use a single-hole punch or a leather awl to make a hole in the side of the plastic container. a. The hole should be 1 centimeter (cm) below the top rim of the container. b. Make sure that when the lid is on the container, the lid does not block the hole. 2. Using the same technique, punch a second hole opposite the first one, again 1 cm below the top rim of the container. 3. Insert the mouth end of a flexible straw into one of the holes. See Figure 1 below. a. If the straw does not fit tightly into the hole, wrap tape around the straw to make the straw fatter. Put the straw back into the hole. Keep adding tape and reinserting the straw in the hole until the two fit together tightly. b. If the straw is too large for the hole, gently push a pen or pencil through the hole to widen it until the straw fits. Make sure the connection between the straw and the hole is snug. 4. Cover the mouth end of the second straw with a piece of nylon stocking. See Figure 1 below. a. Cut a piece out of the nylon stocking, large enough to be taped to the end of the straw. b. Use tape to secure the stocking piece to the straw. c. If necessary, overlap two layers of the stocking so that air can pass through but insects will not be able to.

Figure 1. The two straws are inserted into the plastic container opposite one another. One of the straws is covered by a filter made from a piece of nylon stocking.
5. Using the same method as in step 3, insert the mouth of the covered flex straw from step 4 into the second hole in the plastic container. Again, make sure the fit is snug.

6. With an adult's help, use a pair of scissors to cut out the center out of the plastic container's lid. This will be the observation window of the insect vacuum. See Figure 2 below. a. Fold the lid in half to easily cut out a circle. b. Leave a 1-cm border around the rim of the lid.

Figure 2. Folding the lid in half makes it easier to cut a circle out of the plastic.
7. Stretch a piece of clear plastic wrap over the top of the plastic container. Hold the plastic wrap in place by snapping the lid of the container back on. See Figure 3 below. a. If you need to get rid of wrinkles, lift part of the lid and gently tug the plastic wrap to remove them, then snap the lid back in place.

b. Make sure the plastic wrap is tight enough that the insect vacuum window is easy to see through. c. Make sure there are no holes in the plastic wrap or your insects could escape!

Figure 3. The completed insect vacuum is depicted here. Notice the clear plastic wrap window. Collecting Insects
1. Mark off a 4-foot by 4-foot (or about 120 cm by 120 cm) section of your yard, a field, or other outdoor place where you think insects might live. See Figure 4. a. Use a tape measure to measure a 4-foot line on the ground. b. Mark the beginning and end of the 4-foot line by pushing sticks into the ground so that they stand upright. c. Using the tape measure, place two more sticks parallel to the sticks already in the ground, 4 feet away. The result should be four sticks marking the corners of a 4-foot by 4foot square. d. Tie string between the four sticks, low to the ground, to identify the perimeter of your testing square.

Figure 4. A tape measure can be used to make a 4-foot by 4-foot square, with sticks and string marking the boundaries.
2. Carefully search the 4-foot by 4-foot testing square for insects. Use the insect vacuum to suck up all the insects you find, as described below. You will need to have a search pattern so that you do not crush insects in the square. a. To begin collecting insects, start at one corner of your test square and walk along one edge of the square, walking on the outside of the string but looking into the square. b. When you find an insect, gently place the filter-less straw so that the end is very close to the insect. c. Place the straw with the nylon filter in your mouth and breathe in forcefully. This will create a vacuum, which sucks in the insect. Repeat this process until the insect has been transferred into the plastic container chamber. d. After you have walked along the outside of one edge, start walking in a zigzag pattern inside your test square. See Figure 5. i. Do not forget to check for insects under wood, rocks, and leaves. When you do this, get ready for the insects to quickly scatter! e. Repeat your paths again until most of the insects in the 4-foot by 4-foot testing area have been collected.

Figure 5. To avoid crushing the insects as you collect them, establish a zigzag search pattern, like the one shown here, walking on strips of ground where you have already collected bugs.
3. Examine the insects you collected by looking at them through the plastic wrap window of the insect vacuum. a. You may want to use a magnifying glass to get a better look at the insects. How many different types of insects did you collect? b. In your lab notebook, make a data table (like Table 1 below) describing each type of insect you collected. Note down how many you collected of each type. c. Optional: Drawing a picture of each type of insect is an additional way in which you can describe the insects you collect. d. Optional: You can try to identify the different types of insects you collected. To help you do this you may want to look at the resource in the Bibliography (in the Background tab at the top) by BioKIDS. e. When you are done examining the insects, you should release them outdoors, near where you caught them from. 4. Repeat steps 1-3 on two additional days.

Insect Descriptions: Day 1 Insect Type # Collected

Color(s) Type A

Number of Wings

Antenna (yes/no)

Picture

Type B Type C
Table 1. In your lab notebook, make a data table like this one to record your results in. You will want to make a new table for each day you do your testing.

Analyzing the Data

1. Draw three bar graphs to illustrate your data, making one graph for each day's data. a. On the axis going from left to right (the horizontal axis, or x-axis), make a bar for each type of insect you collected. b. On the axis going up and down (the vertical axis, or y-axis), make the height of the bar represent the number of individuals you collected for each type of insect. For example, if you collected four ants and two ladybugs on day 1, the graph for that day would show two bars. The bar representing the ants would be four squares high and the bar representing the ladybugs would be two squares high. c. You can make the graphs by hand or use a website like Create a Graph to make the graphs on the computer and print them. 2. How many types of insects did you collect? Which type was most common? Was your data similar on all three days? Based on your data, do you think there is a lot of insect biodiversity in the area you chose to test?