Odonata of Beaver Dam, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania: A Record of Faunal Succession in a Changing Habitat Clark N. Shiffer, 234 S. Gill Street, State College, Pennsylvania, 16801 <
[email protected]>; Betsy Leppo, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Harrisburg Pennsylvania <
[email protected]>; and Harold B. White, III, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19716 <
[email protected]> Abstract numerous springs. A subsequent major flood in June 1972, caused by the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, further eroded Beaver Dam pond, created in the 1930s by damming Shaver the breach in the dam. Creek, was destroyed by floods in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, leaving a large wet meadow surrounded by forest Although the Pennsylvania Game Commission planned to and fed by Shaver Creek and numerous springs and seep repair the dam to encourage duck hunting, those plans were tributaries. The Odonata fauna of this habitat in central abandoned when it became known that a robust popula- Pennsylvania was first sampled in 1954 and has been revis- tion of the Sable Clubtail (Gomphus rogersi) existed in the ited over 600 times since, mostly in the past three decades. stream that flowed through the meadow there. The dam The habitat succession has resulted in faunal changes. Aside was never repaired and successional forest growth has taken from supporting populations of several Odonata species over in dryer parts of the meadow. At various times, visitors of conservation interest, it is remarkable in that the River have moved rocks to create a low dam and stepping stones Bluet (Enallagma anna), a damselfly with western affinities, that have raised water levels, maintaining a small pool colonized the site in 2006, the only known location for the just before Shaver Creek exits the meadow.