Great Bug Count
Purpose
To learn about biodiversity by counting bugs in the local
environment and comparing the results to similar experiments in other
environments.
Materials
Hoola hoops or any grid measuring approximately 3.4 square meters.
Paper and pencil to tally the bugs counted.
15 minutes and a grassy area.
Procedure
- Predict what kind of insects or other bugs the children might find while
doing the Great Bug Count.
- Have children sit in small groups around the grid in a grassy area for
fifteen minutes counting any bugs that crawl through or fly over the grid.
(We had groups of five students per hoola hoop.)
- Have one student in each group keep a record of the number and type of
bugs the students observe.
- Combine the results of all the groups in a class chart.
- Make a graph of the class results.
Results
Our class did this experiment in October. We had five groups
using five standard size hoola hoops. We estimated ¼ to be "about 3".
Therefore, our total area is estimated at 21.5 square meters.
This is what we found:
| 37 ants | 19 flies |
| 21 worms | 9 wasps |
| 4 grasshoppers | 12 spiders |
| 12 beetles | 3 moths |
| 1 tick | 1 centipede |
We contacted Suzana and Claudio Padua in the Brazilian rain forest
by e-mail. They told us that in a recent study, after fogging one tree, 40
different species of insects were found!
Conclusion
We decided that there is a greater biodiversity of bugs in the
rain forest of Brazil than in Rhode Island.
Why not do this experiment and share your results with us?
E-mail us at
smart028@ride.ri.net.
Doreen Murphy
Glen Hills School
Cranston, RI, 02920
smart028@ride.ri.net
Cyber Rainforest | Tree Project