December 17th, 2014

From September 22nd to October 3rd, the Camp Heidelberg Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre (OEEC) participated in the School Malaise Trap Program. This program is operated by the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph, which is dedicated to rapidly identifying and documenting life in Canada and in the world.

A Malaise Trap is designed to capture flying insects but does capture some crawling insects as well. During the two weeks of the School Malaise Trap Program, students visiting the Camp Heidelberg OEEC had the opportunity to capture and identify some of the same specimens as those collected by the Malaise Trap. At the conclusion of the two week sampling period, the Camp Heidelberg traps were sent to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario where they were counted and identified.

The Camp Heidelberg Outdoor and Environmental Education Centre made an important contribution to the Fall 2014 School Malaise Trap Program, collecting a total of 1716 specimens in week 1 and 1076 specimens in week 2. Camp Heidelberg ranked 3rd out of 59 sites for the total number of specimens collected and 9th out of 59 for species diversity. A total of 68 species were identified in the Camp Heidelberg trap that were not collected by any of the other 58 school sites across Canada!

To learn more about Camp Heidelberg’s participation in the School Malaise Trap Program, please visit https://outdooredguys.wordpress.com