We studied the responses of litter-dwelling arthropods (Coleoptera: Carabidae; Arachnida: Araneae) to the severity of gap formation caused by ash tree mortality due to the introduced emerald ash borer (EAB) in hardwood forests of southeastern Michigan. Adult carabids and spiders were sampled from the Huron River watershed areas in Oakland, Livingston, and Washtenaw Counties. Forest stands with similar tree densities were chosen with black, green, and white ash trees on the wettest, intermediate, and driest sites, respectively. Arthropods were sampled from these three types of stands (five replicates each except for black ash stands) that had the lowest and highest levels of EAB mortality and associated canopy gaps. Mean ash mortality in infested stands ranged from 5-85%. Increasing degrees of canopy openings were spatially aligned from the epicenter of EAB infestation in Canton, and projecting 25-60 Km northwest. In each site, two traps were each placed in three permanent vegetation plots located equidistant on a 150 m linear transect, for a total of 168 traps. Sampling was conducted from May to September 2006, and traps were emptied every 15 days. All adult arthropods are being identified to species-level. Attributes of forest structure such as soil moisture and temperature, and overstory and understory plant species diversity were assessed from permanent vegetation plots co-localized with pitfall traps. Results from this study can be extrapolated from litter-dwelling arthropods, the bioindicator taxa, to other forest fauna to mitigate the effects of introduced insects, and to promote biodiversity conservation on invaded landscapes.