Not a very satisfying result

Date : 2nd Feb 2008
Time : 8.30am
Attendance : Audrey and Alicia

We collected the pitfall and insect traps from the night. Quite a disappointment.. The pitfall had got lots and lots of ants(order : Hymenoptera) in it. There were several larger ants and many small ants(which is preserved in ethanol now, yet to be identified). This time, we filled the pitfall cup with one third liquid(salt and detergent). There wasn't anything sweet though, still don't understand why are the ants there. The only thing I can think of is that there might be some dead insects inside earlier(the bigger ants) and so the smaller ants were there to harvest some food. Will have to check under the microscope if there's any damage on the bigger ants.

Light trap. There were quite a few very small Lepidopteras inside there. Also, there were a few other species which were yet to be identified. The light trap didn't went well most probably because there were lamp posts nearby and that place was highly fogged. Further light traps will be carried out in areas further from lamp posts to compare the difference. Fogging might have highly lowered the population of insects at Kent Ridge. However, crickets should be in abundance since I always hear their calls when I go frogging with Alicia.