Frost Museum Biodiversity Surveys

Insects and other invertebrates make up over two-thirds of all global biodiversity. The food web, pollination, decomposition, and many other habitat functions depend on healthy insect populations. They are vital players in ecosystem processes, but they are generally disregarded when land managemnt decisions are made. Only recently have people realized the importance of insect diversity and the many ways that insects contribute to our natural and agricultural areas.

Frost Museum staff have conducted several biodiversity surveys with an emphasis on terrestrial arthropods. Here are some recent projects:

Gettysburg National Battlefield, Adams County, Pennsylvania

During a one-week intensive sampling period in July at the base of Big Round Top, more than 15,000 individual insects were collected by Frost Museum staff. A second intensive sampling was completed in the Codori-Trostle thicket area of the park in August. This survey was part of a larger park-wide inventory that included birds, mamals, reptiles, and amphibians.

Fort Indiantown Gap National Guard Training Center

In summer of 2003 museum staff systematically sampled a number of habitat types located at Fort Indiantown Gap in Dauphin and Lebanon Counties, Pennsylvania. Sorting is on-going, but to date almost 500,000 invertebrates have been counted, including three newly discovered species.