4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
and estuarine organisms (Schafale and Weakley 1990) . Some reptile species, including sea turtles, terrapins, and American Alligators, exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination. With predicted increases in overall temperatures associated with climate change, it is pos- sible that ofspring sex ratios of these species may be afected ( Hawkes et al. 2009 ). Several rare, disjunct, or endemic species—Carolina Watersnake, Aaron’s Skipper, and several moths—are associated with brackish marsh habitats in the sounds of the north- ern Coastal Plain. Te drastic changes in salinity and wave action that are likely to occur if the Outer Banks are breached may drastically afect these species, possibly leading to their extirpation or extinction. If they survive the initial efects of the barrier island breach, however, they may be able to spread to new areas of brackish marsh that will form farther inland on the mainland side of the sounds. Nutria are a nonnative and invasive mammal in freshwater and coastal marshes and wet- lands, inland freshwater streams and rivers, and surface water impoundments. As warm- ing trends increase, the range of Nutria is likely to expand and populations currently lim- ited by intolerance to cold winters will quickly expand. Tere is some anecdotal evidence Nutria will take over and expand smaller next burrows of native wildlife such as Muskrats, thereby displacing native species. Nutria may also be a vector for diseases (tuberculosis and septicemia) or parasites ( Giardia, Fasciola , Liver Flukes, and nematodes), with fecal contamination in water the likely pathway (Carr 2010) . 4.3.2.6 Recommendations Land acquisition will play a vital role in protection of the future shoreline. Because dra- matic movement of these communities is probably inevitable as sea level rises, one of the most important things that can be done to help them adapt is to protect areas where they can migrate to. Protection of low-lying shoreline areas that would allow for inland migra- tion is difcult but would provide important benefts. Surveys. Priorities for conducting distributional and status surveys need to focus on species believed to be declining or mainly dependent on at-risk or sensitive natural communities. • Gather baseline information on sex ratios for species with temperature-dependent sex determination (all sea turtles, terrapins, alligators) to characterize impacts from climate change. Monitoring. Long-term monitoring is critical to assessing species and ecosystem health and gauging the resilience of organisms to a changing climate. Tese eforts will inform future decisions on how to manage species and their habitats. Long-term monitoring is needed to identify population trends and to assess performance of conservation actions.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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