Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
where management action may be needed to mitigate impacts on both game and nongame species.
Following the evaluations, each Taxa Team established threshold scores for each evaluation category using the Delphi method (Linstone and Turoff 2002) and considering statistical quartiles and weighting factors as deemed appropriate for the taxonomic group. The ranking scores were then used to prioritize levels of concern for species within each taxonomic group. Copies of the Taxa Team evaluation tables are available in the appendices (refer to Section 3.1) as well as online; they can be downloaded in Excel format from the SWAP webpage http://www.ncwildlife.gov/plan. The eight Taxa Teams had the option to exclude some species from their evaluations because they may occur at the extreme periphery of their range in the state; occur as accidentals or sporadic migrants that do not normally occur in the state; or have a conservation status or management objectives that have been developed through cooperative efforts of specific conservation partnerships (e.g., Partners in Flight, Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative) or are mandated under Federal authorities (e.g., regional Fisheries Management Councils, endangered and threatened species recovery plans). This 2025 SWAP also includes several groups of species in the phylum Arthropoda for which there is statewide or national concern regarding conservation status. Not all species in this phylum are true insects, but we use the common term “insects” in this document to collectively refer to them. Generally, there is a significant lack of knowledge about insects in the state (e.g., population size, distribution, life history, and more), which increases the complexity and difficulty in determining conservation status or needs. Except for those identified as serious agricultural pests, there is also some ambiguity about which state agencies have regulatory or conservation authority over insects in North Carolina. 3.1.6 Knowledge Gaps and Research Needs One of the obstacles to wildlife conservation and management is often a lack of scientific information about a species or taxon. A lack of information inhibits the ability to assess the risk of extinction for a species based on its distribution, population status, or other metric (IUCN 2012) . A lack of data can also preclude preventative measures that protect a species or result in failure to restrict actions that will have a negative consequence for a species. The knowledge gap category (evaluation Metrics 10 to 14) is used to prioritize research needs over the next 10 years based on what can be achieved under existing programs or given available resources to develop new programs. Changes that occur over long time periods may be hard to detect without monitoring data and the reasons for a species’ decline may be difficult to discern when data are insufficient. The lack of long-term data coupled with a need to develop policies that are often short-term responses can contribute to inefficient and ineffective conservation measures (Mace and Purvis 2008) .
2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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