Compiling and Analyzing Historical Insect Data for Plummers Island, Maryland

Brown, John W.; Bahr, II, Stephen M.

Initially maintained by the Washington Biologists’ Field Club as a research station (ca. 1901-1958), Plummers Island, Maryland, a small site located along the northern edge of the Potomac River, currently is under the ownership and management of the U.S. National Park Service. Based on an examination of the insect collection of the National Museum of Natural History (USNM), Smithsonian Institution, and a review of relevant literature, we documented from the site 2,889 insect species in 203 families, encompassing 13 insect orders (Odonata, Dermaptera, Psocoptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Mecoptera, Neuroptera, Megaloptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera). A total of 25,841 insect specimens were databased and bar-coded. Where insect families are represented by historical and current data, we conducted preliminary analyses of species turnover using 25-year increments (i.e., 1900-1925, 1926-1950, 1951-1975, 1976-present). Most insect groups for which there are historical and recent records show considerable turnover since 1900 - most families have fewer species present now. Because Plummers Island has been subject to limited management activities, these findings may shed light on the types of changes that may be expected in the insect fauna in response to “natural” vegetation succession and other forms of passive land management.

Compiling and Analyzing Historical Insect Data for Plummers Island, Maryland

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