Invertebrates provide the majority of ecosystem services; thus, it is important that they be inventoried, monitored, and protected. However, inventories, monitoring, and management generally focus on vertebrates and flowering plants. Consequently, there are few guidelines or case studies for invertebrates, despite the fact that they represent the demonstrable majority of the most threatened species (e.g. Kim 1993; Kellert 1993; Goldstein 2004). Indeed, most past and predicted extinctions are of insects (Dunn 2005). We produced guidelines for developing monitoring programs for invertebrates, have considered the impacts of management practices on terrestrial arthropod diversity, and have predicted the impacts of loss of eastern hemlocks due to the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid on arthropod diversity. My collaborators and I are intimately aware of the difficulty of managing and monitoring the vast diversity of arthropods in most systems. We are working towards identifying and verifying short cuts, such as indicator or surrogate taxa, that can predict the diversity of all other arthropods in ecosystems and are investigating the scales and context-dependencies of these relationships. 

Sample Publications

Jennings, D.E.*, Edwards, G.B. Rohr, J.R. 2012. Associations between ground-surface spiders and other arthropods in mesic flatwoods. Florida Entomologist 95: 290-296

Leslie, T.W.*, Biddinger, D.J., Rohr, J.R., Fleischer, S.J. 2010. Conventional and seed-based insect management strategies similarly influence non-target coleopteran communities in maize. Environmental Entomology. 39: 2045-2055

Rohr, J.R., Mahan, C.G., Kim, K. 2009. Response of arthropod biodiversity to foundation species declines: the case of the eastern hemlock. Forest Ecology and Management. 258: 1503-1510

Rohr, J.R., Kim, K., Mahan, C. 2007. Developing a monitoring program for invertebrates: guidelines and a case study. Conservation Biology. 21: 422-433

Leslie, T.W., Hoheisel, G.A., Biddinger, D.J., Rohr, J.R., Fleischer, S.J. 2007. Transgenes sustain epigeal biodiversity in diversified vegetable farm systems. Environmental Entomology. 36: 234-244

For a full list of publications, please see the Publications page on this website.