3.12 Insects
particular types of habitats and wide use of pesticides, herbicides, and other biological control agents.
Tere is also national support via the Farm Bill for pollinator conservation, but little base- line data are available for the diversity of native bees and other pollinators important for crop pollination in the state. NatureServe and the Xerces Society track some bees in the genus Bombus and related cleptoparasitic species but otherwise there is little information available on a national level. Recognizing that insects fall outside the bounds of the taxa prioritization process used by the Taxa Teams (and described in the White Paper, Appendix F), we have used recommen- dations from species experts and reviewed NCNHP occurrence data to identify conserva- tion priorities for these groups. We have incorporated species and habitat priorities and conservation recommendations for these groups into the Plan where possible. Table 3.34 lists SGCN priority insect species which are completely terrestrial and that occur currently or historically in North Carolina. Nearly half of all aquatic insects considered to be true fies (order Diptera) are almost exclusively restricted to freshwater by an aquatic larval stage, as are mayfies, stonefies, caddisfies, dragonfies, and Dobson Flies (order Megaloptera) (Suter and Cormier 2014) . Inland freshwaters cover a very small percentage of the Earth’s surface but they provide habitat to almost 100,000 insect species from at least 12 orders that have one or more life stages in freshwater. Often the aquatic larval stage lasts signifcantly longer than the terrestrial adult life stage. Aquatic insects spend one or more stages of their life cycles in the water, with the majority living in water as eggs and larvae before maturing into adults and moving to terrestrial habitats. Teir ecological roles as primary consumers, detritivores, predators, and pollina- tors have an important infuence on both terrestrial and aquatic communities and they can serve as bioindicators of natural community health (Suter and Cormier 2014) . Aquatic insects are a primary food resource for many fsh and crayfsh species. As they emerge from aquatic larva to adult insects and disperse to surrounding areas they become an important prey resource for bats and birds that forage in riparian areas. Table 3.35 lists insect SGCN, by taxonomic order, that have both an aquatic life stage and a terrestrial stage. Te 2005 WAP did not identify insect SGCN. Te 2005 WAP provided a very good overview of general conservation issues involving insects and other invertebrates developed by Hall (1999a) in his inventory of Lepidoptera of the Albemarle–Pamlico region of North Carolina. Much of the material covering arthro- pods and other insects provided in the 2005 WAP is still relevant.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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