Reference Document 3-1
Appendix 3
North Carolina Status Metrics 5 through 9 focus on a species’ status in North Carolina.
Metric 5. Population Size in North Carolina . Species that become rare locally may serve as early warnings for declines over broader areas that are likely to occur for numerous reasons, including threatened habitats or genetic decline (Wells et al. 2010) . In addition, North Carolina has numerous endemic species and some have single or small populations found only in discrete locations. Endemic species may have low reproductive potential that will contribute to small populations (Kunin and Gaston 1998) . Burlakova et al. (2010) noted there is typically a high rate of endemism associated with freshwater habitats because many species have evolved within small geographic ranges (reviewed in Strayer and Dudgeon 2010). There are some species (e.g., birds, anadromous fish) with different breeding and non-breeding populations in North Carolina or the populations may be short-term transients during migratory stop overs. For these species, separate evaluations should be done for breeding and non- breeding populations; transient populations should be included in the non-breeding category. The answer scale is adopted from the NatureServe evaluation tool (NatureServe 2012a) . Scores are assigned based on the estimated total number of adults found in North Carolina.
What is the estimated number of adults within North Carolina?
(a) 1 – 50 individuals (b) 50 - 250 individuals
(c) 250 - 1,000 individuals (d) 1,000 - 2,500 individuals (e) 2,500 - 10,000 individuals (f) 10,000 - 100,000 individuals (g) 100,000 - 1,000,000 individuals (h) >1,000,000 individuals
Metric 6. Range Size in North Carolina. A species may be widespread and secure within its total range, but populations in NC can be imperiled. This metric is intended to help differentiate the degree of imperilment for populations occurring within the state. Range size is the most restricted area within NC over which the species is distributed and can be measured by the number of counties where the species occurs. Range size can include counties where suitable habitat is considered to be available but surveys have not been recently conducted. If a species has distinct breeding and non-breeding ranges in NC, use the smaller range to determine a score. Some species, particularly freshwater fish species, may be native to certain river basins but are considered nonnative or invasive when introduced to river basins where they would not normally be found. For aquatic species, range size is based on the number of river basins where the species is found and is native.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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