One of the goals of the Murphy's Bottom Ecological Project is to increase biological variability in a sustainable way.

Multiple distinct ecosystems, as well as less defined ecotones, exisit on the Murphy's Bottom property. Some, such as the silver maple flood plain, remain very similiar to what has existed along the Allegheny for thousands of years. Others, like the sandy horsetail dunes, exisit only due to human alteration of the lay of the land.

Despite their very different backgrounds both of these areas still team with life. However, groups of organisms inhabiting disturbed land areas are typically less diverse and may contain a variety of invasive species that are detrimental to all of the natural ecosystems which surround it. The scope of this project includes both evaluating these types of habitats and as well as assessing the feasibility of reclaiming some areas back to a more natural state.

A number of studies have been performed on the site in order to gather information on the state of life therein. These studies include, but are not limited to the following:

• 3 Christmas Bird Counts
• 2 Spring Warbler Counts
• Plankton Sampling
• Microbial Diversity
• 4 General Biotic Surveys
  • November 2006
    • Boat electroshocking and gill netting
    • Benthic trawling
    • Shrew pitfalls and small mammals
    • Salamanders of Knapp Run
    • Crayfish and macroinvertebrates
  • May 2007
    • General botanical studies
    • Bat mist-netting
    • Reptiles and amphibians
    • Pitfall trapping
  • August 2007
    • Flood plain plants
    • Spiders
    • Insect light trapping
    • Boat electroshocking
  • August 2008
    • Trees and shrubs
    • Small mammal trapping
    • Insect light trapping
    • Dragonflies
    • Gill netting

One basic but telling metric used in quantifying biodiversity is a species list. Many different forms of biotic sampling have been performed at Murhpy's Bottom to date and the results have been divided into different species groups. Please click on a link below to view a summary list of species or download a more in-depth spreadsheet.

A word about the spreadsheets: These lists are, for the most part, in phylogenetic order by family and then alphabetized by genus/species. Each sheet contains detailed notes on sampling techniques, times, and participants at the bottom of the list with numbered columns representing each sampling/observation. At the bottom of each sheet is a species total which negates any organism group that we could not indentify to species (e.g. Notropis sp. would not count in the total)