Two plots were mapped out at Conservancy Park: one was a 15x15 meter square plot randomly placed in a native grass field, and the other plot followed the main trail around the Conservancy Park pond (~0.25 mile).  

Insects in the native grass plot were collected by sweeping butterfly nets at random throughout the plot at varying heights for 2 minutes; the native grass averaged 1 meter tall. This plot was surveyed by two people. Insects in the trail plot were also collected by sweeping butterfly nets at random along the ground and across edge vegetation that bordered the trail; there was no specific time limit set for the trail collection, but it took about 10 minutes to survey the whole trail (the trail was split into two sections so the researchers could cover more ground).  

At the end of a collection, bugs were dumped into gallon size Ziploc bags from the butterfly nets (This was the hardest part of the whole collection! Eight or more bees were set free before being stored in the Ziploc bags, because they were very angry and eager to sting.). The Ziploc bags were sealed and later stored in a freezer.  

Back at the office, the insects were dumped out of the frozen Ziploc bags and organized into 10 major insect orders. The number of individuals representing each order from each plot collection were counted and recorded. A Shannon Diversity Index calculation was then used to compare the diversity of the native grasses versus the trail vegetation.