Since my last blog, I’ve changed my hypothesis and sampling strategy. Originally I was studying the difference in plant richness in different levels of sunlight. I changed my study how temperature affects the level of bumblebee foraging activity on catnip plants. I chose 8 locations which consisted of 1-3 flower stems (that I marked), and would count the number of times that the bees would land on themduring a 5 minute frame. I would try and do the samplings in the morning, afternoon, or evening to get the different temperature readings.
Unfortunately I got stung by a bee on my first sampling day, but ever since then everything has gone smoothly! I’ve done at least a weeks worth of sampling, sometimes more than once a day, and so far I’ve noticed the changes of bee activity with temperature. The pattern so far is that as temperature increases, so does the level of foraging activity.
Good luck to everyone else sampling!