The land snail fauna of Furnace Mountain, Powell County, Kentucky is reported. Fifteen families, 35 genera, and 61 native species were documented, containing nearly all the regionally available fauna from an area encompassing 2 ha. Furnace Mountain is a diverse molluscan refugia in Kentucky, representing the most speciose locale reported in North America and is of global importance for land snail biodiversity. The land snail fauna of Furnace Mountain slightly exceeds New Zealand's Waipipi Scenic Reserve, reported as the richest land snail fauna in the world. Species richness was correlated with the area's extensive Newman limestone outcroppings, calcareous soils and its geographic position on the Central Knobstone Escarpment. Reported here as a “geophysical landscape edge”, the area is an amalgamation of the Cumberland Plateau, the Knobs, and the Outer Bluegrass region of Kentucky. The convergence of these three diverse snail eco-regions has provided a number of land snail species the opportunities to coexist.

An examination of leaf beetle specimens (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the five largest beetle collections in Kentucky and from recent inventory work in state nature preserves revealed 31 species of the subfamily Cassidinae present in Kentucky, 13 of which are previously unreported for the state. Distribution maps and label data are presented for the 31 Kentucky species of the subfamily Cassidinae including spatial (state and Kentucky county records), temporal (years and months of collection in Kentucky), and plant association information. The following species are reported from Kentucky for the first time: Anisostena ariadne (Newman), Anisostena nigrita (Olivier), Microrhopala excavata excavata (Olivier), Microrhopala rileyi S. Clark, Odontota horni J. Smith, Sumitrosis ancoroides (Schaeffer), Physonota unipunctata (Say), Cassida rubignosa Müller, Gratiana pallidula (Boheman), Erepsocassis rubella (Boheman), Jonthonota nigripes (Olivier), Opacinota bisignata (Boheman), and Strongylocassis atripes (LeConte).

The reference list of 874 field botany entries principally from 1985 to 2006 updates two previous reference lists, the last of which appeared in 1989. Seventy-seven relevant entries through 1987 are included that were not indexed in the last reference list. One hundred fifty-two entries are from 1989 or earlier, 391 from the 1990s, and 331 since 2000. The references include 606 peer-reviewed journal articles, 67 scientific botanical books, 62 technical articles, 46 theses, 30 technical reports, 22 dissertations, 18 book chapters, and 23 popular books. The four largest botanical subjects within 11 subdivisions are floristics (247), synecology (205), autecology (134), and systematics (126).

Use of synthetic chemicals has been the primary method of insect control in stored grain. Concern for insecticide resistance, chemical residues, environmental contamination, and worker exposure has lead to development of biologically based insecticides such as Spintor® 2SC. Spintor has been found to be effective against several stored grain beetle species on wheat and shelled corn in storage. Recently it was re-formulated to conform to OMRI national standards and is now commercially available as an organic insecticide (i.e., Entrust®) registered for use on fruits and vegetables. However, no information regarding the use of Entrust on stored grains has been found. A laboratory study was conducted to determine efficacy of Entrust on maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motsculsky), red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)), and sawtoothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis (Linnaeus)) infesting stored shelled corn. Shelled corn was treated with 1 ppm or 3 ppm of Entrust or left untreated. Mortality was quantified at 1, 3, and 7 days after exposure. Maize weevil survival was negatively affected at all three time intervals at both the 1 ppm and 3 ppm treatments with 100% mortality observed after one week for the 3 ppm treatment. No significant differences in mortality were seen between treated and control groups of either sawtoothed grain beetle or red flour beetle. However, Entrust treated corn negatively affected progeny emergence of all three insect species.

Sediment and freshwater mussel tissues were used to evaluate distribution and bioaccumulation of polynuclear (polycyclic) aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds in the lowermost Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake. The target analytes included naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benz[a]pyrene, and benzo[g,h,i]perylene. Surface sediments (0–5 cm depth) from four locations in lowermost Tennessee River and five locations in Kentucky Lake were analyzed for target PAH compounds to determine spatial distributions. A sediment core from Ledbetter embayment in Kentucky Lake was analyzed to describe vertical distributions of the compounds. Freshwater mussels (Unionidae) collected from the lowermost Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake were analyzed and examined for bioaccumulation. PAH compounds were detected in all sediments and mussel tissues. PAH concentrations ranged from 0.01 (detection limit) to 90.4 ng/g dry wt in sediments and 0.02 (detection limit) to 223 ng/g dry wt in mussel tissue. Considering spatial distributions of PAHs in the sampling sites, there was no clear difference found between Kentucky Lake and the lowermost Tennessee River. Accumulation patterns of PAH species in sediment and mussel tissues exhibited the following order: Naphthalene > Phenanthrene > Benz[a]pyrene > Anthracene > Benzo[b]fluoranthene > Benzo[k]fluoranthrene > Benzo[g,h,i]perylene. The results revealed that 66.2% (w/w) were non-carcinogenic PAHs, whereas 33.8% (w/w) were carcinogenic in Kentucky Lake and the lowermost Tennessee River. In comparison with other freshwater ecosystems, PAH concentrations in Kentucky Lake and the lowermost Tennessee River were low.