| Abstract | Over the last decade, a series of taxon-based surveys and research projects were conducted to document flora and fauna of the Gettysburg National Military Park (GETT) and Eisenhower National Historic Site (EISE). These efforts produced information on the presence, abundance, and distribution of resident species of a number of major plant and animal taxa, namely vertebrates and vascular plants. This information helped the park management staff to make rational decisions in wildlife management and to learn how certain management actions might affect biodiversity and specific groups of organisms. However, little is known about invertebrates, although they are most species rich and abundant and also major players in maintaining ecosystem processes.
To meet the goals of ecosystem management, it is necessary to know the state of invertebrate biodiversity related to the ecosystem structure and function. With invertebrate biodiversity information, a comprehensive and site-specific database can be developed for use in ecosystem management of natural resources and landscapes in GETT and EISE. Invertebrate biodiversity data provide their habitat relationships to other plants and animals, accurately describing the structure of biological community at a given habitat, with which ecosystem health and guild structure can be measured.
Invertebrates, particularly insects, comprise the largest component of biological communities at GETT and EISE. Following the invertebrate survey conducted for measuring the impacts of woodland removal, the study of arthropod biodiversity was initiated to address the paucity of habitat specific information on invertebrates at GETT and EISE in 1999 and 2000. The 1999 collections were made from an interior forest stand (Big Round Top/Plum Run) and a grazed woodlot (Codori-Tostle Thicket). A total of over 23,000 arthropods were collected, sorted, and identified to morphospecies, except for the Diptera and Hymenoptera where this procedure was completed for only 20 and 93% of the material respectively (Kim et al. 2001). A supplemental collection of invertebrates was made in 2000 at several locations in GETT to provide a broad geographic coverage of different habitats in the park. The specimens were collected using a streamlined biodiversity profile modified for open (non forested) habitats (Mahan et al. 1998). Specimens were labeled and are stored in ethyl alcohol at the Frost Entomological Museum. |
