CLASSIFYING INSECTS IN MONGOFRE

IES JOSEP MIQUEL GUÀRDIA

Margarita Rotger, Miriam Triay and Yaiza Tudurí, 1st year A-level

On Friday 12th of November, the Biology students of 1st year of A-level from IES Josep Miquel Guàrdia went to Mongofre to identify and classify insects and other invertebrates because 2010 was the year of biodiversity.

At 8:30 fifteen students and a teacher left the high school and went to Mongofre by bus. There we met another teacher that came by his car, and three guides that showed us the place and explained to us what we were going to do.

Mongofre is a plot of land in the northeast of Menorca which has got a lot of ecosystems, for example; saline, beach, farm, forest, agro ecosystems...

First of all, the guide showed us (in a map) the route that we would follow and then he explained the mechanism of the traps they had placed in strategic zones to catch some invertebrate animals. There were two traps in every ecosystem and depending on the zone, we found different types of animals. Every time we picked up a sample, we wrote the ecosystem’s name where we had found it.

When we had all of the samples, we went to the greenhouse and we classified the insects there. Then we split up into groups of three or four and every group classified the insects of each ecosystem. We also observed them with magnifying glasses and we counted the number of insects and which types were in every ecosystem. Later every group presented and shared their results with the rest of students.

Finally, when everybody had explained their ecosystem, we took photos of the insects and the groups. Then, we said good bye to the other teachers and the guide and we waited for the bus. At 13:30 the bus arrived and we went back to the high school.

In these pictures you can see how we preserved the insects:

Before going back to our high school, we took this picture of all together.