Rare Invertebrate Monitoring and Conservation
OKNP invertebrate biologists work with botanists and ecologists to inventory and assess terrestrial invertebrate species across Kentucky. The heritage program forms the basis of OKNP’s invertebrate role, as so many plants, insects, animals, and natural communities are uniquely tied together. OKNP’s growing terrestrial invertebrate conservation programs focuses on pollinator conservation, rare insect conservation, insect-plant/animal interactions, and insect ecology.
OKNP conducts cutting edge field work and research that seeks to document the diversity, distribution, and conservation status of Kentucky’s understudied and underappreciated terrestrial invertebrate animals. OKNP documents native bees, butterflies, moths, bee flies, hover flies, dragonflies, terrestrial snails, cave beetles, tiger beetles, fireflies, ants and more- all serving many critical ecosystem functions such as pollination, decomposition and critical food web roles in our natural and human world.
Rare Aquatic Monitoring and Conservation
Kentucky ranks fourth nationally in aquatic biodiversity with approximately 245 native fishes, over 100 different kinds of freshwater mussels, and nearly 60 species of crayfish. The Cumberland and Green rivers, both part of the Kentucky Wild Rivers System, are two of the most biologically diverse. KNP has worked in these drainages on several projects recently to document, protect, and conserve imperiled species.