Chapter 4 Habitats
and might reduce natural canopy density. This would be detrimental to Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and other species that depend on older Longleaf Pine trees.
Three species of insects are endemics or near-endemics to wet pine savanna habitats in North Carolina. Five others are major disjuncts, with their next nearest populations in New Jersey, Florida, or in the case of Rattlesnake-Master Borer moth, the tallgrass prairies of the Midwest. The Coastal Plain Apamea moth appears to have a highly disjunct population in the coastal savannas but also occurs in the Southern Appalachians. Fire suppression and a lack of growing season prescribed burning cause a thick shrubby understory to develop, which shades out grasses and herbaceous ground vegetation and greatly reduces overall plant and animal diversity. Microhabitats and ecotones can be impacted by fire line construction, and a lack of woody debris particularly impacts reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. While all these species are associated with fire-maintained habitats, the majority depend on having a metapopulation structure to cope with fire, as well as other environmental perturbations. Five of these species have substantially lost their metapopulation structure and have become highly vulnerable to the effects of single catastrophic events, including wildfires. Because many examples of this habitat are now fragmented and isolated, uncontrolled fire that burns whole patches is a significant threat to many insect populations. In summer 2009, a back fire to control a wildfire in Croatan National Forest burned the entire known habitat of the Arogos Skipper; this butterfly has not been seen there or anywhere else in the state since that fire. 4.3.13.6 Recommendations Protection of remaining examples and restoration of degraded examples would help the Coastal Plain landscape adapt to future climates, as well as provide benefits under the current climate. Keeping or restoring fire 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. They are tolerant of drought, fire, 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 fire. This makes them more vulnerable to loss of species and degradation both by climate change and by other threats. 4.3.13.6.1 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
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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