Chapter 4 Habitats
Potential increased air temperatures and resulting increased water temperatures can lead to algal blooms in aquatic systems, which diminish stream oxygen availability. The increased water temperature alone can cause a decline in DO and any decline in DO can lead to fish kills, whether as a direct result of increased water temperature or as a secondary effect of algal blooms. Maintaining water quality is important for the species that rely upon headwater streams for habitat as well as for those species that rely indirectly on the system as provision of habitat for their prey. Wetlands associated with headwater streams are important as breeding sites for amphibian species and can also be important breeding habitat for crayfishes. Concentrated stormwater flows can strip salamander eggs from riverbanks and vegetation, reducing reproductive success. Riparian areas serve as thermal refugia because they provide stream shading and have higher water content than upland areas. Animals with thermoregulatory limitations have refugia that will become increasingly important with anticipated increases in air temperatures. Drought and loss of vegetated cover will reduce available refugia for these species. Riparian areas associated with headwater streams provide habitat for terrestrial wildlife species and are a linkage between aquatic and terrestrial systems that serve as corridors for movement of terrestrial wildlife species ( Seavy et al. 2009; NCWRC 2002; Wenger 1999 ). Some birds may use headwater stream communities associated with small wetlands for nesting and feeding areas. 4.2.7.6 Recommendations Section 4.2.2 provides recommendations appropriate for all aquatic communities, statewide. Actions specific to the state’s river basins are provided in Section 4.5 in this chapter. Land conservation or preservation can serve numerous purposes in the face of anticipated climate change, but above all, it promotes ecosystem resilience, such as protecting watersheds for clean water, flood attenuation, and decreased erosion and sedimentation; providing ecological corridors for species movement throughout the landscape in response to changing habitats; and preserving existing habitats to help prevent forced migration (Band and Salvesen 2009) . 4.2.7.6.1 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
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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