Ecological Analysis of Arthropod Diversity and Development of a Monitoring Plan for Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site
Kim KC and Piechnik DA. 2009. Ecological Analysis of Arthropod Diversity and Development of a Monitoring Plan for Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site. Natural Resource Technical Report: Northeast Region. Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR—2009/143. National Park Service, Northeast Region. Philadelphia, PA
This Technical Report presents: 1) the arthropod taxa that are unique to particular habitats, plant associations, and land-use categries; and 2) an experimental design for monitoring arthropod taxa at GETT/EISE, which includes: a) suggestions for arthropod groups that can be used as surrogates for overall arthropod diversity; b) recommendations of at-risk or important taxa to monitor in addition to the surrogate taxa; and c) efficient sampling designs to monitor the surrogate taxa and species of special concern (e.g., at-risk or ecologically important taxa). This project is the follow-up to an earlier project, Inventory of Invertebrates at Gettysburg National Park (GETT) and Eisenhower National Historic Site (EISE), with Special Reference to Forest Removal completed in 2001. As the General Management Plan for GETT recommended, the National Park Service has cleared forested land to restore the open vistas of the 1863 battle landscapes and is managing some forested lands as woodlots. To detect possible impacts from this landscape modification on ecological communities and the ecosystem at large, we inventoried and assessed invertebrate biodiversity in GETT/EISE. This inventory serves as baseline data for GETT/EISE invertebrate biodiversity at sites with critical habitats. Our ecological analysis was used to develop a preliminary monitoring plan in an effort to establish sustainable natural resources management of GETT/EISE arthropod diversity. We summarize the ecological analyses, produce useable databases based on the GETT/EISE arthropod inventory, and develop monitoring recommendations for GETT/EISE managers. With the inventory and monitoring information, we are establishing necessary baseline information. We updated the specimen identifications and used the database to determine major community gradients which may influence community membership of various habitat types in the GETT/EISE ecosystem. We characterized land-use patterns with respect to Lepidoptera, a sensitive arthropod group with many specialist taxa.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Kim, Ke; Piechnik, Denise
- Date of Issue
- 2009-12
- Publisher
- National Park Service, Northeast Region
- Units
- EISE , GETT , MIDN
- Keywords
- Arthropod, Eisenhower National Historic Site, Gettysburg National Park, Lepidoptera, Monitoring