Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
newly described species in the Yadkin Pee Dee River basin: Falls Crayfish and Stony Fork Crayfish. Undescribed and nominally identified species are conservation and research priorities.
In 1996, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) Endangered Species Committee, Subcommittee on Crayfishes assessed the conservation status of crayfishes in the United States and Canada and subsequently reassessed statuses in 2007 (Taylor et al. 1996, 2007) . To evaluate conservation status of crayfishes, Taylor et al. (1996, 2007) assessed status based on criteria known to impact aquatic taxa that included (1) existing or potential destruction or alteration of a species’ habitat or distribution, (2) over utilization, (3) disease, (4) other natural or anthropogenic factors (e.g., hybridization or invasive species introduction), and (5) restricted range. Results from the reassessment indicate that the overall conservation status of crayfish has changed little since the first comprehensive review. • Specifically, nearly half of the 363 crayfishes remained categorized as possibly extinct, endangered, threatened, or vulnerable; however, it should be noted that at least 25 taxa were downgraded due to increased research efforts, and 27 new crayfish species were described after the 1996 assessment (Taylor et al. 2007) . • Of the described native crayfishes in North Carolina, the conservation status of 24 species remained the same after reassessment, seven species were downgraded to a lower priority status, 12 species were described after the 1996 assessment, and no species were upgraded to a higher threat category. • The 2007 assessment ranked the aforementioned 43 species as follows: one (2%) species is listed as Endangered; four (9%) are Threatened; nine (21%) are Vulnerable; 28 (65%) are Currently Stable; and one species was described subsequent to AFS assessments. Conservation recommendations for the associated habitats have been incorporated into the natural community descriptions in Chapter 4. Additional recommendations can be found in the river basin descriptions (Section 4.5). The following paragraphs provide information about species identified by the Taxa Team as SGCN or as priority species for research or management, and for which work has been conducted to implement conservation and management recommendations. 3.4.2 Comparison of 2015 and 2025 Priority Species The 2025 Crayfish Taxa Team evaluated 57 species and identified priority species for SGCN, knowledge gaps, and management concerns as noted below. The following table provides a comparison of changes to the number of SGCN and priority species between the 2015 SWAP, the 2020 Addendum 1, and the 2025 SWAP. A comparison with the 2005 SWAP is not included because a different method was used to evaluate and identify SGCN for that version of the Plan.
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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