Chapter 4 Habitats
4.2.2 Statewide Aquatic Community Recommendations The recommendations provided in this section are appropriate for implementation in all aquatic natural communities. Additionally, the individual aquatic natural community descriptions have recommendations and priorities specific to each habitat. Actions specific to the river basins that contain these types of aquatic communities are provided in Section 4.5 of this chapter. 4.2.2.1 Surveys Surveys are systematic and scientific methods of collecting information about the distribution, abundance, and ecology of wildlife or their habitats in a specific area at a specific time. A habitat survey is a method of gathering information about the ecology of a site. The results of a habitat survey provide basic ecological information that can be used for biodiversity conservation, planning and/or management, including targeting of more detailed botanical or zoological investigations (Smith et al. 2011) . Repeated surveys using the same methods can provide information about conditions and changes to species assemblages and habitat composition over time. Priorities for conducting distributional and status surveys need to focus on species believed to be declining or mainly dependent on at-risk or sensitive communities. Distributional and status surveys are needed for aquatic snails, crayfish es , mussels, and fish es (in order of general need). Priority Conservation Action, Examples of Focal Species or Focal Habitats • Conduct stream surveys adjacent to areas poised for development (edge of urban expansion) to establish baseline populations and identify problems before development expands.
• Work cooperatively with partners to collect occurrence and abundance data on macrobenthic species.
• Conduct surveys to detect presence and collect life-history and abundance data for freshwater snails and crayfishes, as there is limited information available on these species.
Crayfish
Aquatic Snail
4.2.2.2 Monitoring Monitoring involves repeated observation and recording of specific parameters to show trends over time. Long-term monitoring that includes statistical and quantitative analysis in the design is critical to assessing species and ecosystem health and gauging the resilience of organisms to changing conditions (Gitzen et al. 2012, Lindenmayer and Likens 2009) . Monitoring efforts should include identification of population trends, as well as assessment of impacts from conservation or development activities. These efforts will inform species and habitat management decisions. Long-term monitoring sites need to be identified, and monitoring protocols developed for all
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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