4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
uncontrolled fre that burns whole patches is a signifcant threat to many insect popula- tions. In Summer 2009, a backfre to control a wildfre in Croatan National Forest burned the entire known habitat of the Arogos Skipper; this butterfy has not been seen there or anywhere else in the state since that fre. 4.3.11.6 Recommendations Protection of remaining examples and restoration of degraded examples would help the Coastal Plain landscape adapt to future climates, as well as provide benefts under the current climate. Keeping or restoring fre to these systems, through prescribed burning, is crucial to their long-term survival in both the present and any future climate. Most of their component species range well to the south of North Carolina. Tey are toler- ant of drought, fre, and wind. Many have broad tolerance of varying moisture and nutrient conditions. However, they have been drastically reduced by conversion to other uses and degraded by lack of fre. Tis makes them more vulnerable to loss of species and degrada- tion both by climate change and by other threats. Surveys. Priorities for conducting distributional and status surveys need to focus on spe- cies believed to be declining or mainly dependent on at-risk or sensitive communities. Monitoring. 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. Monitoring plans should be coordinated with other existing monitoring programs where feasible. • Initiate long-term monitoring once baseline surveys have been conducted. Focus should begin with herpetofauna and bird species in decline, or for which little is known about the population fuctuations and demographics. Research. Research topics that facilitate appropriate conservation actions include habitat use and preferences, reproductive behavior, fecundity, population dynamics and genet- ics, feeding, competition, and food web dynamics. Research must also be conducted to determine vulnerability of SGCN and other priority species to specifc threats and studies should provide recommendations for mitigation and restoration: • Determine better ways to construct fre lines and better ways to burn around populated areas where smoke would otherwise be a concern when burning.
• Determine how to efectively restore altered portions of this habitat type and develop methods to manage them without fre.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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